Organ donation involves voluntarily giving an organ, or part of an organ, to someone else so they may live. Most donations come from the deceased, but living individuals can also gift an organ or part of an organ—usually a kidney or part of the liver. A single deceased organ donor can save up to eight lives, with donations most commonly leading to kidney, liver, heart, and lung transplants.
Since the first successful US organ transplantation in 1954, transplant procedures and survival rates have become a lifesaving option for thousands of people each year. In 2024, there were around 24,000 organ donations and more than 48,000 organ transplants in the US.
Demand for organs still consistently outpaces donor supply, with over 100,000 people awaiting organs on the national transplant list at any given time. Researchers, policymakers, and clinicians are seeking ways to improve the system, extend organ viability, and reduce the need for human organs.
Current bottlenecks in the system include logistical and technical barriers, including the fact that donors must generally be in the hospital when they die to donate their organs and that there's only a short viability window for how long organs can survive outside the body. Other obstacles include the fact that only about 60% of American adults register to donate their organs, and not all donated organs are suitable for use.
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The United Network for Organ Sharing is a private, nonprofit organization that manages much of the US organ donation and transplantation system under a federal contract. Medical urgency, blood type, organ size, and geography of the donor and recipient are all factors determining how someone who needs an organ is matched with someone who donated an organ.
National UNOS tracking data feeds into these US maps that record all the transplants, donors, and waitlist additions in the last 12 months. California, for example, had the most transplantations in 2025—totaling about 5,200—but it also has the longest waiting list, with more than 20,000 additions in that same period.
More than 48,000 organ transplants were performed in 2024, and about 46,630 were performed in 2023. These record highs are illustrated here as part of data from 1988 to partway through 2025. Kidneys, livers, and the heart remain the most common transplanted organs. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)
If surgeons removed organs including one of your lungs, a kidney, your spleen, appendix, tonsils, part of your liver, and even some of your reproductive organs you could still survive. Watch this animated video which dives into the organs you could conceivably live without.
The US has an opt-in donation system for organ donation—meaning people must provide consent to proceed with any donation. Locations including Spain, the United Kingdom, and Argentina have an opt-out donation system, which means individuals are presumed to be donors unless they actively refuse consent.
A law that went into effect in May 2020 in England changed the country's organ donation regulations, reflecting public support for organ donation. Now, adults are typically presumed to have agreed to donate their own organs upon death unless they declare they're refusing to donate organs (or their family opts them out).
A 2024 analysis found that several years after England changed its organ donation system to an opt-out donation system there was no improvement to the country's organ donation rates, perhaps highlighting the need for better understanding and education around the law.
In 2023, more than 6,900 transplants were made possible thanks to living donors. Living donation is when a living person donates an organ or part of an organ—usually one of their two kidneys or part of the liver, since that organ can regenerate in a healthy person. Much more rarely, living donors donate other organs. Living donations often occur when someone wants to ensure a loved one has certainty that they will quickly receive a needed organ.
The successful kidney transplant procedure, at what's now-called Brigham and and Women's Hospital, ushered in a new medical era and gave hope to patients with organ failure. The recipient, 23-year-old Richard Herrick, lived eight more years after receiving the donated organ from his living twin brother, Ronald.
According to 2025 report data that was graphically represented by Statista, average costs for organ transplants can be as steep as $2.3M for a double lung transplant and $1.9M for a heart. These figures are based on what was actually charged to insurance companies—not what individual patients paid. Following the actual transplant there are also additional costs associated with the procedure, including lifelong immunosuppressant drugs.
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