Organ donation
Post-mortem organ donors per million inhabitants, by state of the donor hospital, 2025
Hospitals in the eastern states reported 14.2 post-mortem organ donors per million inhabitants in 2025, 1.2 times the western rate of 11.5. Hamburg (22.5) has the highest rate, and Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt are among the top five; Berlin has 8.9. In 2012 the East stood at 13.9 and the West at 12.4.
Inner-German border 1949–1990 ·16 states · 2025
Former West
11.5
excl. Berlin
Former East
14.2
excl. Berlin
Berlin
8.9
Germany
11.8
Figures in per million
The East stands at 123% of the West's level (2025).
By state
- Hamburg22.5
- Bremen17.0
- Saarland16.9
- Thüringen16.8
- Sachsen-Anhalt16.5
- Sachsen15.9
- Mecklenburg-Vorpommern14.0
- Baden-Württemberg13.7
- Schleswig-Holstein12.2
- Bayern10.8
- Nordrhein-Westfalen10.6
- Niedersachsen10.0
- Hessen10.0
- Rheinland-Pfalz9.5
- Berlin8.9
- Brandenburg7.8
2025
Then and now
Drag across the map to compare 2012 with 2025. Both maps share one colour key.
Former West
12.4
excl. Berlin
Former East
13.9
excl. Berlin
Berlin
15.6
Germany
12.8
Figures in per million
The East stands at 112% of the West's level (2012).
Notes & caveats
- Donors are counted in the state of the hospital where the organs were removed, not where the donor lived. Large transplant and neurosurgery centres (Hamburg, for example) attract donors from neighbouring states.
- Post-mortem donors only (no living donation). 2025 Land figures are DSO's preliminary figures of 12 January 2026; the national total (985) matches the final DSO Jahresbericht 2025, which publishes only regions.
- Our calculation for 2025: donors ÷ Destatis population on 31.12.2025 × 1,000,000. DSO publishes its own rates on the population of 30.06.2025; ours agree to within 0.3. East = the five eastern states without Berlin.
- Small numbers: Bremen (12 donors) or Saarland (17) can swing by several points from year to year.
- 2012: Land rates transcribed from the DSO Jahresbericht 2012 (no counts published). East, West and Germany are population-weighted means of those rounded rates (population 31.12.2012, GENESIS 12411-0010); implied total 1,029 donors vs 1,046 reported. 2012 is the earliest DSO annual report with Land figures available online.
Show the table
| State | Side | 2025 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saarland | west | 16.9 per million | 8.9 per million |
| Berlin | berlin | 8.9 per million | 15.6 per million |
| Brandenburg | east | 7.8 per million | 12.4 per million |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | east | 14.0 per million | 16.6 per million |
| Sachsen | east | 15.9 per million | 13.3 per million |
| Sachsen-Anhalt | east | 16.5 per million | 13.0 per million |
| Thüringen | east | 16.8 per million | 15.4 per million |
| Schleswig-Holstein | west | 12.2 per million | 10.9 per million |
| Hamburg | west | 22.5 per million | 27.2 per million |
| Niedersachsen | west | 10.0 per million | 10.1 per million |
| Bremen | west | 17.0 per million | 12.1 per million |
| Nordrhein-Westfalen | west | 10.6 per million | 13.0 per million |
| Hessen | west | 10.0 per million | 13.6 per million |
| Rheinland-Pfalz | west | 9.5 per million | 12.3 per million |
| Baden-Württemberg | west | 13.7 per million | 11.0 per million |
| Bayern | west | 10.8 per million | 12.3 per million |