Organs: Donors
(asked on 8th January 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many registered organ donors there are, listed by (a) religious and (b) ethnic group.
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for organ donation in the United Kingdom, including managing the NHS Organ Donor Register (ODR). The following table shows the number of registered organ donors by religion, as of 8 January 2026:
Religion | Number of ‘opt-in’ organ donor registrations |
Christian | 1055179 |
Hindu | 35986 |
Muslim | 27555 |
Jewish | 9851 |
Sikh | 12083 |
Buddhist | 16822 |
Other religion | 44959 |
No religion | 1566903 |
Not stated/reported | 32375474 |
Total | 35144812 |
Source: NHSBT
Note: this data reflects the total number of ‘opt-in’ ODR registrations by religion and ethnic group, including duplicates when individuals have registered more than once and those who have since passed away, this means the total number of reported potential donors in any one group may be overestimated.
In addition, the following table shows the number of registered organ donors by ethnic group:
Ethnicity | Number of ‘opt-in’ organ donor registrations |
White - British | 7062158 |
White - Irish | 174375 |
White - Other | 343510 |
Asian - Indian | 127393 |
Asian - Pakistani | 18508 |
Asian - Bangladeshi | 4936 |
Asian - Chinese | 21307 |
Asian - Other | 46251 |
Black - Caribbean | 25536 |
Black - African | 25707 |
Black - Other | 5467 |
Mixed - White/Black African | 15277 |
Mixed - White/Black Caribbean | 36071 |
Mixed - White/Asian | 39363 |
Mixed - Other | 33825 |
Other | 30976 |
Not reported | 27134152 |
Total | 35144812 |
For further details on ethnic differences in organ donor registration, see the Annual Report on Ethnicity Differences in Organ Donation and Transplantation, which is avaiable at the following link: