2024 annual figures: major growth in organ and tissue donations

In 2024, 360 people donated at least one organ after death, and 2,775 people donated tissues. More people want to and are able to donate. Read on for all the annual figures.

Naomi Nathan, director of the Dutch Transplant Foundation (NTS), is pleased with this trend: 'More people want to and are able to donate. Thanks to active donor registration, it is clear what more people want after their death, which is important. And thanks to medical innovations, more and more deceased people can donate. The gift of an organ or tissue donation can therefore be better utilized. In this way, donation can save more and more people and enrich lives.'

Organ donation and transplantation in figures

In 2024, 360 people donated one or more organs for transplantation after death. On average, there were 3 organs per donor. 1,066 organ transplants took place using organs from deceased donors.

Influence of the amended Donor Act on donor growth

Since 2021, every resident of the Netherlands has been in the Donor Register and is therefore asked to make a choice regarding organ and tissue donation: active donor registration. Since then, the number of people with a 'yes' registration has increased. And a new category has been added: people who are in the Donor Register with consent based on a 'no objection' registration. This has increased the chance that patients can be helped with an organ or tissue.

Doubling of heart transplants

In addition, innovation has a positive influence on the number of organ donors. Naomi Nathan: 'In particular, perfusion plays a major role in this: flushing organs with an (oxygen-rich) fluid. Through this method, organs can be examined and assessed for transplantation better than before. We see that this allows more organs to be transplanted. And because the quality of an organ is more visible, criteria for who can be a donor have been broadened.' For heart transplants, perfusion led to a doubling of the number of transplants: from approximately 40 heart transplants per year between 2016 and 2021 to 79 in 2024.

Also, organ donation after euthanasia plays a part in the growth of the number of organ donors: in 2024, organ donation after euthanasia took place 32 times. This is an increase compared to 2023, when it took place 24 times. This number is included in the total of 360 deceased donors.

Because the various factors influence each other, it is difficult to express the influence of each factor separately in percentages.

Tissue donation: thousands of lives enriched

In 2024, 2,775 deceased people donated one or more tissues, such as eye tissue, heart valves, skin, and bone tissue. The increase of 232 donors compared to 2023 is because more people have given consent for tissue donation after their death. In addition, the criteria for who can be a donor could also be broadened here due to new insights and in consultation with professionals.

As a result, patients waiting for a donor tissue transplant can be helped sooner and better. Naomi Nathan: 'We often talk about organ donation because it saves lives, but don't forget: tissue donation greatly improves the quality of life for many people. Think of donor skin for patients with burns and other wounds that are difficult to heal. And the transplantation of heart valves in babies with a heart defect or in adults who urgently need a new heart valve.'

A heart valve transplant took place 155 times in 2024. A corneal transplant took place 2,039 times, which is a small increase compared to 2023 (1,947 times). With bone and skin tissue, one donor can help multiple recipients. These transplants took place frequently.

Living donation

The number of living kidney donations decreased by 4%; 487 kidney transplants from a living donor took place in 2024. There were 35 liver transplants using a portion of a liver from a living donor. A transplant with an organ from a living donor can ensure that a patient does not have to wait as long, or that someone for whom it is difficult to find a suitable organ based on medical characteristics can still find one.

Donors remain necessary

‘Despite the positive news that more people could be helped with a transplant in 2024, organ and tissue donors remain urgently needed. There is still a large group of patients who are dependent on a transplant,’ reports Nathan. On December 31, 2024, there were 1,415 patients on the waiting list for an organ from a deceased donor. Most of them are waiting for a kidney transplant: 1,067 people. For eye tissue, nearly 1,000 patients are on the waiting list. The greater and broader the supply of organs and tissues, the sooner patients can undergo a transplant.