SPAIN continues to be a world leader in organ transplants, with 36 donors per million inhabitants and carrying out 6% of the planet's operations of this type.
A total of 1,682 organs were donated last year and 4,360 transplant operations were conducted, according to the World Transplant Register.
And the number of donated organs per million inhabitants is considerably higher than the European Union average of 19.6, or the USA's figure of 26.6.
In fact, Spain has been the global transplant leader for the last 24 consecutive years, meaning its record has been unbroken since the year 1991.
The register, administered by Spain's National Transplant Organisation (ONT) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows how new organs were implanted into 118,117 patients around the globe in 2014 – but this is barely 12% of the total of those who need them.
But Spain is doing its bit – 17% of transplants in Europe and 6% of those worldwide are carried out in the country, with last year seeing 2,678 kidney transplants, 1,068 new livers implanted, 265 hearts, 262 lungs, 81 pancreas, and six new intestines.
This is exceptionally high for a country whose population accounts for just 0.7% of the world's headcount.
Live donation of kidneys represents 15.8% of the total in Spain.
Over the past five years, the number of transplants conducted around the world has gone up by 13.5%, with an annual average of 2.7%, rising to 3% last year, according to data obtained from 112 countries.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com