Spain leads the world in organ transplants

By Wendy Williams

SPAIN is the world leader for the number of organ donations made each year according to a new report.

The study, which will be released in early September, reveals that Spain has a rate of 34.4 donors per million inhabitants.

This equated to more than 4000 transplants performed in 2009 with record numbers for kidney and lung transplants.

And within the European Union 17.5 percent of all organ donations were made in Spain.

Published in the 2010 edition of the EU’s newsletter Transplant, the report says that: “Transplant activity in Spain, which retains its world leadership in this field, continues to grow in a sustained manner, basically thanks to donations from family members of elderly people who have died.”

The report also showed that for the second year running, there was a small increase across Europe in the rate of organ donations, with a total of 18.3 donations per million inhabitants, compared with 18.2 the previous year.

However, with 64,726 people waiting for a transplant in Europe at the end of 2009, these figures still remain insufficient.

It is estimated that at least ten Europeans die each day waiting for an organ transplant.