Organ transplants save thousands of lives every year. In 2023 alone, the Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network (OPTN) reported record numbers of organs donated and transplanted. This animated map explores the history of organ donations and transplants in the US as well as the impact of geography.
This map uses data from the OPTN from 1988 (the first year of OPTN’s operation) to 2023. It opens with an overview of the OPTN and its 11 geographic regions covering the US and Puerto Rico. Note how different these regions are in terms of in size and geographic extent.
The second view compares wait list additions and transplants per million people. The gap between waitlists and transplants reflects the reality that transplant needs exceed the number of transplants performed. This has been true since 1988 and persists today. In 2023, Region 9, covering New York and part of Vermont, was the most active for both metrics. The region led the nation with 260 waitlist additions per million people and 181 transplants per million people.
The next series of views shows the ratio of organs transplanted and donated in each region. It maps cumulative data from 1988 to 2023 for hearts, kidneys, livers, and lungs. Across all organ types, some notable patterns emerge.
In Regions 6 and 3, donations outpace transplants, while the inverse is true in Region 9. Geography might hold the answer. Regions 6 and 3 include outlying areas like Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Organ transplantation is time sensitive, and the wide areas covered by these regions could help explain why donations exceed transplants. In contrast, Region 9 covers the smallest area and has one of the densest populations. This facilitates more transplants relative to donations.
The last map in the video compares living and deceased donors over time. Although living donors accounted for the majority of donors in the mid-2000s, in recent years they make up about 30% of all donations. The COVID-19 pandemic could account for some of the shift as living donor rates plummet from 2020 onward. Region 9 also has the highest living donor rate, which might help explain the trends in the previous view.
The video ends with a chart showing the number of people impacted per donor over time. As of 2023, each individual donor led to 2.04 transplants. Sadly, although organ donations and transplants have increased over time, many donated organs are never transplanted.
