2022: A year of livesaving milestones
The generosity of selfless donors and their families make multiple lifesaving records possible
In brief:
- More than 42,800 organ transplants performed in 2022, again setting annual record
- Total kidney transplants exceeded 25,000 for the first year ever
- Annual records also set for liver, heart and lung transplants
- Deceased donation continues 12-year record trend
Read the news release
The U.S. reached a historic milestone in 2022: 1 million transplants
2021
All-time records again set in 2021 for organ transplants, organ donation from deceased donors
In 2021, 41,354 organ transplants were performed in the United States, an increase of 5.9 percent over 2020 and the first time the annual total exceeded 40,000.
Read the 2021 news release
2020
Annual record trend continues for deceased organ donation, deceased donor transplants
Despite a 50% drop in deceased donor transplantation early in the pandemic, the U.S. system proved its strength and resilience by recovering quickly and continuing to outperform itself.
Read the 2020 news release
2019
Organ donation again sets record
Nearly 11,900 people provided the lifesaving gift of organ donation upon their death last year, making 2019 the ninth consecutive record-breaking year for deceased donation in the United States.
Read the 2019 news release.
Continuous improvement
As good as the U.S. organ transplantation system is, it needs to be even better to be able to serve the more than 100,000 people waiting for organs at any given time. UNOS is committed to driving continuous improvement to serve those patients and promote an ongoing increase in organ donation and transplants.
Resources
- Learn more about how the national organ donation and transplant system works.
- Explore data reports and dashboards.