NEW DELHI: There is a clear gender gap among living organ donors in India. While 68% of donors are women, 78% of recipients in 2025 were men, according to the latest government data from the Union Health Ministry.
In 2025, just 22% of living organ recipients were women, according to the annual report from the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) under the Union Health Ministry.
Kidney and liver transplants are the most common in India, and many women donate these organs to male relatives. In 2025, data also showed that a woman donated a small bowel to a man in her family.
In 2025, 11,316 women, making up 68% of living organ donors, donated organs, while only 5,298 men, or 32%, did so. Meanwhile, 12,903 men, or 78%, were recipients, compared to 3,707 women, or 22%.
Similarly, 71% of living kidney donors were women (8,835), while only 29% were men (3,656). At the same time, 77% of kidney recipients were men (9,656), and just 23% were women (2,835).
For liver transplants, 60% of living donors were women (2,480), while 40% were men (1,642). Among recipients, 79% were men (3,248) and 21% were women (871).
Kidney transplants made up 62.03% of all organ transplants in India, followed by liver transplants at 20.46% in 2025.
In 2025, India performed 20,138 organ transplants, the highest number ever in a single year. This is four times more than the 4,990 transplants in 2013 and a 6.5% increase from 18,911 in 2024.
Deceased donor organ transplants also grew significantly, rising from 837 in 2013 to 3,526 in 2025, which is more than a fourfold increase. As many as 1,986 deceased donor kidney transplants were performed in 2025, as compared to 1,918 the previous year. In 2023, the figure was 1,635 and in 2022, it was 1,541.
In 2025, 12,491 living donor kidney transplants were performed, compared to 11,558 in 2024. In 2023, the figure stood at 11,791. In 2022, it was 10,164. Total liver transplants in 2025 were 5,154 as compared to 4,901 in 2024. In 2023, the figure stood at 4,491 and in 2022 it was 3,920.
Kidney-pancreas transplant also saw a dip with only 26 performed in 2025, as compared to 37 in 2024. In 2023, 23 such transplants were reported as compared to 22 in 2022.
However, small bowel transplants saw a jump with 23 transplants performed as compared to only nine the previous year. In 2023, the figure stood at 16 as compared to just three in 2022.
Since the national digital pledge portal launched in 2023, over five lakh people in India have made Aadhaar-verified organ donation pledges. One deceased donor can save up to eight lives.