Nowadays in Europe, the main source of transplantable organs is donations from donors after brain death, ahead of those from donors after circulatory death and from living donors. According to the European Commission’s 2017 study on the uptake and impact of the EU action plan on organ donation and transplantation (2009-2015) in the EU Member States, deceased donation is a source for kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas and small bowel transplants. Living donation is mainly performed for kidney transplants and some liver transplants. Demand for organs exceeds the number of organs available. In 2018, over 150 000 patients in Europe were registered on organ waiting lists. Organ donation rates for both deceased and living donation vary widely across the EU. In 2018, the number of actual deceased donors ranged from 48.3 per million people in Spain, 40.2 per million in Croatia and 33.4 per million in Portugal, to 0.5 per million in Romania (see Figure 1). Living organ donation practices vary, too. In a 2013 online survey, large discrepancies were found between geographical regions of Europe (eastern, Mediterranean and north-western).
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