ifo Dresden on Germany’s Organ Donation Day, June 5: Number of Organ Donors Remains Relatively Constant Despite the Coronavirus Pandemic
The organ donation rate in Germany fell only slightly in 2020, the year of the coronavirus. In many other European countries, however, it plummeted. This is the finding of a report published by the ifo Institute’s Dresden Branch to mark Germany’s Organ Donation Day. “Despite the extraordinary strain on hospitals, and especially on intensive care units, the number of organ donors remained relatively constant during the coronavirus pandemic in Germany, albeit at a comparatively low level,” says Selina Schulze Spüntrup, a researcher at the ifo Institute’s Dresden Branch.
In Germany, the organ donation rate in 2020 was similar to that in 2019, at around 11 organ donors per million inhabitants. The number of organ donors moved quite independently of the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care. In contrast, other European countries saw organ donation rates fall sharply while the burden on their health care systems was high, with declines mostly in the double-digit range.
Schulze Spüntrup’s complete article can be found under the title “The Coronavirus Pandemic Had Almost No Negative Effect on Organ Donor Numbers in Germany” in issue 03/2021 of ifo Dresden berichtet (in German).
