Organ Donation and Asian Americans

Organ and Tissue Donation

Diabetes and heart disease are less prevalent among Asian Americans than other minority groups. Even so, they suffer significantly from liver disease and hepatitis. These conditions are known to put patients at risk for organ failures. In 2019, Asian Americans made up 5.7 percent of the national population.

The number of organ transplants performed on Asian Americans in 2020 was only 24.7 percent of the number of Asians currently waiting for a transplant. The number of transplants performed on whites was 48.8 percent of the number currently waiting.
While 8.5 percent of the total candidates currently waiting for transplants are Asian, they comprised 3.1 percent of organ donors in 2020.
In 2020, 43.1 percent of the organs recovered from Asians came from living donors as compared to 33.4 percent of white living donors.

U.S. Transplant Waiting List – Candidates by Race/Ethnicity
Organ	All Candidates	# of Asian Candidates	Asian % of All Candidates	# of White Candidates	White % of All Candidates
All Organs	106,666	9,069	8.5	43,054	40.4
Kidney	90,235	8,331	9.2	32,377	35.9
Liver	11,704	602	5.1	7,865	67.2
Heart	3,531	97	2.7	2,004	56.8
Lung	922	41	4.1	661	66.6

Source: HRSA. U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). Based on OPTN data as of August 23, 2021.
https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data/view-data-reports/national-data/*

Transplants Performed in the U.S. by Recipient Ethnicity, 2020
	Number	Percentage of Total 2020 Transplants
Asian	2,236	5.7
White	20,997	53.8
Total Transplants	39,036	100

Source: HRSA. U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). Based on OPTN data as of August 23, 2021.
https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data/view-data-reports/national-data/

U.S. Organ Donors Recovered, 2020
Donor Type	# of All Donors	# of Asian Donors	% of All Asian Donors	# of White Donors	% of All White Donors
Living	5,729	243	4.2	4,129	72.1
Deceased	12,588	321	2.6	8,249	65.5
Total	18,317	564	3.1	12,378	67.6

Source: HRSA. U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). Based on OPTN data as of August 23, 2021.
https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data/view-data-reports/national-data/

U.S. Organ Donors Recovered, 2020
Donor Type	# of Asian Donors	% of All Asian Donors	# of White Donors	% of All White Donors
Living	243	43.1	4,129	33.4
Deceased	321	56.9	8,249	66.6
Total	564	100	12,378	100

Source: HRSA. U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). Based on OPTN data as of August 23, 2021.
https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data/view-data-reports/national-data/

*OPTN data is updated monthly online. The data and statistics for this section will be updated annually.

Last Modified: 8/26/2021 4:48:00 PM

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