Spain's continued leadership in organ donation: A global benchmark

Saturday 18 January 2025 - 13:33

Spain maintains its position as a global leader in organ donation, achieving 6,464 transplants in 2024—a 10% increase over the previous year. The National Transplant Organization (ONT) attributes this remarkable achievement to the selflessness of 2,562 deceased donors, a figure that represents a 9% rise. For the past 33 years, Spain has consistently set the world record for deceased organ donors per million inhabitants.

In 2024, the transplant rate reached a record-breaking 132.8 per million people, while the donor rate climbed to 52.6 per million, surpassing the ONT’s target of 50. Among the various types of transplants, lung procedures saw the greatest increase, up 30% to 623 operations. Kidney transplants followed closely with a 10% rise, totaling 4,047 cases. Heart transplants grew by 7% (347 procedures), and liver transplants rose by 6% (1,344 operations).

These outstanding results were made possible by the generous donations of more than 2,500 deceased individuals. Notably, 65% of these donors also contributed tissues such as corneas, bones, and tendons. Furthermore, 404 living donors provided kidneys (397) or part of their liver (7), demonstrating the widespread commitment to saving lives.