The document, prepared for New Zealand health ministers, discusses access to organ transplantation and notes that waiting lists do not capture all patients who might benefit from transplantation because eligibility criteria limit who is listed. It gives examples such as the lung transplant waiting list, where “The median waiting time for a lung transplant is 18 months”, but does not specify a figure of 400 people on the national transplant waiting list for any year. The focus is on system design and access rather than a specific 2011 total count of people waiting.

In response to a 2016 Official Information Act request about transplant waiting lists, the New Zealand Ministry of Health stated: "At 31 December 2011 there were 420 people on the organ transplant waiting list." The Ministry clarified that these figures represent the number of people on the national organ transplant waiting list at that specific date.

The Ministry of Health, responding to an Official Information Act request about organ donation, noted: "Demand for transplantation exceeds organs available. At any given time, there are about 400 to 500 New Zealanders waiting for an organ transplant." This statement describes the typical range of people on transplant waiting lists rather than a precise annual figure for a specific year.

The article cites New Zealand organ transplant waitlist statistics: "As of January 1, 2012, 512 New Zealanders were on the organ transplant waitlist." It notes that these are official waitlist numbers calculated as of 1 January for a given year, and refers to data from the Australia and New Zealand Organ Donation (ANZOD) reports. This implies that the count around this period is based on a specific census date rather than a rounded figure like "about 400".

This 2022 study describes New Zealand’s kidney transplantation system and notes: “New Zealand has one centralised, national kidney waitlist for deceased and non-directed living donor kidneys allocated using the NZ Kidney Allocation System (NZKAS).” It analyses 2,631 patients entering the kidney transplant waitlist from 2007–2018. While it discusses numbers of patients and outcomes, it does not identify a specific yearly total of 400 people on the transplant waiting list in 2011; the counts accumulated over the 11‑year study period are substantially larger.

This review discusses organ donation and waiting lists globally and cites New Zealand among countries with relatively low deceased donation rates, noting that waiting lists persist and grow despite advances in transplantation. While it does not give a specific New Zealand 2011 figure, it frames that countries with low donor rates have significant waiting lists relative to their population.

This heart transplant study reports that in the U.S., "From January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2010, 29,654 patients between 18 and 70 years of age were placed on the heart transplant waiting list." By the end of 2011, "18,807 (66%) patients received a transplant, 4,743 (17%) died while on the waitlist or were removed for medical reasons, 3,024 (11%) were still active on the waitlist and 1,709 (6%) saw their condition improve." These figures offer context for how national waiting list counts are tracked over time.

Discussing kidney transplant waiting lists, the article states: "Figure 1 shows that, in 2009, the official waiting list for a kidney transplant was 617, while 121 people received a transplant from either a deceased or live donor." It explains that "Waiting list numbers fluctuate during the year" and that "The official numbers for each year are calculated as at 1 January of the following year and include both active and suspended patients (personal communication, Organ Donation New Zealand, 4 February 2011)."

A background section describing the U.S. kidney transplant system states: "In the United States, there are around 140,000 candidates on the kidney transplant waitlist, with around 40,000 added each year but only 25,000 removed after a successful transplantation (Lentine et al., 2023)." This illustrates that kidney waitlists alone can be very large in big countries, again suggesting that a few hundred on all organ waiting lists in a small country like New Zealand is within a reasonable order of magnitude.

In its submission, the New Zealand Transplant Society comments on organ donation and transplantation, noting a persistent gap between available donors and patients on waiting lists. It refers to national statistics showing that at any one time there are several hundred New Zealanders on transplant waiting lists, predominantly for kidneys, which aligns with approximate figures such as "about 400" often used in public information materials.

In an October 2011 parliamentary debate on organ donation and transplantation, members cite figures about organ donation rates and the number of people awaiting transplants. Speakers refer to New Zealand having “hundreds of people” waiting for organ transplants at any given time, and mention that the kidney transplant waiting list alone numbers in the several hundreds. No member states that there are exactly 400 people on the transplant waiting list; figures are discussed in approximate terms and by organ rather than as a precise national total of 400.

The page states: "In New Zealand, **about 400 New Zealanders are on the waiting list for an organ transplant at any one time. Most of these people (about 350) are waiting for kidney transplants." It presents this as a typical or ongoing figure for New Zealand, not tied to a specific single year, using the phrase "at any one time" rather than giving a particular date.

An abstract on kidney transplant waitlisting reports: "Of 2,631 patients entering Aotearoa NZ kidney transplant waitlist, 1,457 (55%) were transplanted, 270 (10%) were still waiting, 334 (13%) were suspended and 570 (22%) died while waiting." Although this study covers multiple years and focuses on kidney transplants only, it gives context on the scale and outcomes of transplant waiting lists in New Zealand.

An article describing New Zealand’s transplant system notes that "New Zealand’s Ministry of Health has implemented a new program that would compensate living organ donors for lost earnings." It explains that "Now anyone who donates a kidney or part of their liver to an eligible person can receive up to twelve weeks of compensation for earnings lost while they recover, and also receive travel and accommodation assistance." This demonstrates official recognition of ongoing demand and waitlist pressures for organ transplants in New Zealand.

The organisation notes that there are "hundreds" of New Zealanders waiting for kidney transplants and that kidneys make up the majority of organ transplant waiting lists. It emphasises the impact of the organ shortage on patients who remain on dialysis while awaiting a transplant, but it does not provide a specific year-by-year breakdown, such as a count for 2011.

A 2011 fact sheet by Organ Donation New Zealand states that at any one time “there are usually around 300–400 people waiting for an organ transplant in New Zealand,” referring to all solid organ transplants combined. The figure is presented as a rounded range rather than an exact count tied to a specific date, and it indicates that the number fluctuates around that level rather than being precisely 400 in 2011.

New Zealand’s resident population in 2011 was about 4.4 million. For small, high-income countries with similar populations, national organ transplant waiting lists generally number in the low hundreds, not thousands. Against this demographic background, an official count of roughly 400–420 people on New Zealand’s organ transplant waiting list around 2011 is demographically and health-system consistent.