Organ donation rate in the United Kingdom 2023/24, by country

In 2023/24, the organ donation rate in Northern Ireland was 33.5 per million population, the highest rate in the United Kingdom. With 20.9 organ donations per million population, England had the second-highest rate. Wales had the lowest rate of the countries of the UK. 

Most common organs donated

The most common organ offered for donation in the UK were kidneys, at over 3.4 thousand offers in 2021/22. The second most common organ offer in this year were the lungs with approximately 1.7 thousand offerings. This corresponded into the kidney having the highest rate of organ transplants in the UK (both from alive and deceased donors) at 37.8 procedures per million population.

Not all organs can be used

In 2017, over 35 percent of families in the UK refused permission for organs from their deceased family member to be used for donation. This was one of the highest refusal rates in Europe. Additionally. there is cases of organs that have been donated that cannot be used for various reasons. For example, in 2021/22 over 30 kidneys donated in the UK could not be used as they were deemed clinically unsuitable for organ donation.