Fewer organ transplants in Netherlands last year; Trend still increasing

Last year, slightly fewer patients received a donor organ in the Netherlands than in 2024. According to the Dutch Transplant Foundation (NTS), 1,480 people received one or more organs through a transplant in 2025, a decrease of approximately 7 percent compared to the previous year. In 2024, there were 1,588 transplants. Despite the decrease, the NTS “sees a long-term upward trend,” the foundation said with its annual figures.

About two-thirds of donated organs came from deceased donors. This included 536 kidneys, 210 livers, 118 lungs, 77 hearts, 30 pancreases, and one small intestine. These organs came from 308 people. They were transplanted in 949 surgeries. In some cases, more than one organ is transplanted during a surgery.

The remaining 531 transplants were performed with organs from living donors, meaning people who donated a kidney or part of a liver to another person. Last year, 498 patients received a kidney this way, compared to 487 in 2024. A total of 33 patients received a portion of a liver from a living donor.

According to NTS, over 1,600 patients were still on the waiting list for an organ transplant on December 31, 2025. While the number of transplants decreased slightly last year compared to the previous year, this was primarily due to 2024 being a peak year.

Generally speaking, NTS sees a steady increase in available organs, partly due to government policy. Since 2021, someone who has not registered a choice on the organ donor register is registered as “no objection,” instead of being registered as not a donor. The waiting time for a transplant is, therefore, decreasing. For a kidney, it decreased from 29 to 26 months in just a few years. The waiting time for a heart went from 24 to 14 months.

More people now have a chance of receiving an organ or tissue transplant. “Fantastic news,” said Naomi Nathan, director of the NTS. “Doctors, nurses, and other partners in the organ and tissue donation and transplantation chain have worked incredibly hard to achieve this. We are especially grateful to all donors and their families.”

According to the NTS, the importance of tissue donation became clear earlier this month. Donated skin from the Dutch tissue banks was sent to victims of the New Year’s Eve fire at a ski bar in Switzerland.

Last year, 133 patients died while waiting for a donor. 137 patients left the waiting list because their medical condition had deteriorated too much for a transplant to save them.