The unavailability of adequate organs for transplantation to meet existing demand has resulted in major organ shortage crises. The article states that demand for organ transplantation has risen, while the lack of available organs has increased waiting lists and deaths among patients waiting for transplants.

UNOS reports that more than 90,000 Americans are still waiting for a lifesaving kidney transplant and that with more than 100,000 people currently waiting for an organ transplant, the U.S. system continues to face an urgent need for more donations.

Fewer patients are dying each day while waiting for an organ: 13 each day in 2023, compared with 16 per day in 2021. There are still more than 100,000 people waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, and the article cites the latest OPTN/SRTR annual data report for waiting list deaths.

The report states: "One of the major challenges in SOT is the constant imbalance between the demand for and the supply of transplantable organs." It notes that in 2024, "a total of 668,160 patients were reported as actively waitlisted for transplantation, and 31,853 patients died while waiting, underscoring the persistent and critical gap between need and supply." The authors conclude: "Current levels of donor activity are insufficient to meet the worldwide demand. A major factor underlying the persistent imbalance between need and availability is the shortage of organ donors in most countries."

This peer-reviewed article states that, at present, over 100,000 patients are listed for transplant and more than 7,000 deaths occur annually while on the waitlist. It also says that organ availability continues to critically limit transplantation in the United States.

The article explicitly states that organ shortage is the greatest challenge facing the field of organ transplantation today. It also reports that in 2009, 50,463 patients were added to the transplant waiting list, 28,463 received transplants, and 6,683 died while waiting for a suitable organ.

An analysis of U.S. trends in JAMA Surgery notes that "despite record numbers of transplants, a substantial organ shortage persists." The study describes "tens of thousands of patients" remaining on waiting lists each year and documents that many patients either die or become too sick for transplantation before an organ becomes available. The authors characterize the ongoing gap between organ supply and clinical need as a central challenge for the transplant system.

NHS Blood and Transplant reports: "More than 12,000 people in the UK have died or been removed from the transplant waiting list over the past 10 years before receiving the lifesaving organs they desperately needed." It says that 4,900 people died while actively waiting for a transplant and a further 7,700 were removed after becoming too sick, "with many dying soon after – highlighting the urgent need to increase organ donation registrations." The same release notes that the UK transplant waiting list "had reached its highest level ever recorded with 8,000 people actively waiting for a lifesaving transplant" while there were fewer deceased donors than the previous year.

This review on global organ donation states that "the shortage of organs is the main limitation to transplantation worldwide." It describes a "marked discrepancy between the number of patients on waiting lists and the number of available organs" and notes that this gap persists despite advances in surgical techniques and immunosuppression. The authors point out that many patients die while on waiting lists because suitable donor organs cannot be found in time.

The United States faces a growing organ shortage that will only intensify as the population ages and diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity become more prevalent. The page also states that more than 100,000 Americans are waiting for an organ transplant and that 17 people die every day waiting for one.

UNOS states that it is a nonprofit organization with decades of experience in helping save lives through research, technology, innovation and education. This is the parent organization for OPTN-related public information and serves as a primary institutional source for transplant-system context.

The report says that more than 28,000 viable organs are wasted each year and that there are about 109,000 people on the waiting list. It also states that only about half of patients who get on the list receive the organ they need within five years.

The article says that only one-third of U.S. patients waiting for an organ in 2021 received the surgery, according to federal numbers. It identifies a lack of donors as the main reason for the gap between demand and supply.

This university publication says that in 2024 more than 100,000 people were on the national transplant waiting list and describes the overwhelming majority as waiting for kidneys, indicating a persistent shortage problem.

The page states that every day, 20 people in the United States die waiting for a transplant and that every 10 minutes a person is added to the waitlist. It presents the shortage as a persistent and measurable problem in the U.S. transplant system.

Statista reports that 106,090 people were on the waiting list for potentially life-saving organ transplants in 2021, according to HRSA data. The chart also says 17 people die each day waiting for an organ transplant and another person is added to the waiting list every nine minutes.

In the United States, organ transplantation is widely described by federal agencies and transplant organizations as facing a chronic supply-demand gap: demand for organs exceeds the number of available donor organs, leaving many patients on waiting lists and some dying before receiving transplants.