Number of brain-dead organ donors in our country is six times lower than in the U.S.
Three out of four Koreans are willing to donate organs
Out of 50,000 people waiting for organ transplants, only around 400 donations are made every year.
The Ministry of Data Research Institute’s weekly report “Numbers” No. 229, released on February 27, featured a survey titled “Current Status and Perception of Organ Donation”. Below are the details of the survey results.
Current Status and Perception of Organ Donation
1. 50,000 people are waiting for organ transplants, but only about 400 donations are made every year
Organ donation, as we commonly refer to it, means donating organs or human tissues without compensation when brain death or death occurs. Excluding “living transplantations” (such as kidney transplants), which are primarily performed between family members or relatives during their lifetime, we examine the trends in the “number of brain-dead organ donations” and “number of people waiting for organ transplants” over the past five years.
The number of people waiting for organ transplants has been steadily increasing each year, with 50,707 people waiting as of September 2023. However, the number of brain-dead organ donations has remained in the 400s, recording 450 in 2019, 478 in 2020, and 483 in 2023. Over the past five years, the number of waitlisted people has increased by over 10,000. Still, there was only a total of 2,258 donations made in the same period, exacerbating the imbalance between supply and demand.
2. The number of brain-dead organ donors in our country is six times lower than in the U.S.
How has the rate of brain-dead organ donations in our country changed? When we looked at the “brain death donation rate,” which is the number of donors per one million people, it was 7.9 in 2022, showing a decline from 9.2 in 2020.
When compared against the rate of brain death donations in other countries, it was much lower than major countries such as the U.S., with 44.5, and the U.K., with 21.1. Japan and China, countries with the same Confucian values as Korea, had even lower rates.
3. Three out of four Koreans are willing to donate organs
To find the reason behind low brain death donation rates, we looked at the recently released data on “Public Perception of Organ Donation at Brain Death.” When asked about their willingness to donate organs, 75% of Koreans, three out of four, responded with “willing.” The types of organ donations that people responded with “willing” were “posthumous donation” (52%), “brain death donation” (46%), and “donation between living people” (20%).
4. The main reason for hesitating to donate organs at brain death is ‘vague fear’
When respondents who were unwilling to donate organs were asked why, the highest proportion cited “vague fear (36%)”, followed by “because of aversion to physical mutilation (28%)”, “because there might be a wrong brain death diagnosis (28%)”, and “because the donated organ could be used for wrong purposes such as sales for profit (22%)”.
Activities that correct such misconceptions to stop people from hesitating in donating organs and encourage those willing to donate organs seem necessary.
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