Eye and tissue donation and transplantation data

• Each year the lives of thousands of Australians are saved and transformed through the transplantation of donated tissues, including eye tissue.
• The tissues that can be transplanted include heart valves and other heart tissue (cardiovascular tissue), bone, tendons and ligaments (musculoskeletal tissue), skin, pancreas islets, and parts of the eye such as the cornea and sclera.
• Unlike organs, many more people can become eye and tissue donors as these can be donated following death outside of hospital, and tissue can be stored.
• Tissue banks across Australia collect tissue from deceased and living donors, process and store these tissues and then distribute them to clinicians for transplantation and other surgical uses.

• People can donate any combination of organs, eyes and tissue.
• Of the 557 deceased organ donors in 2025, 260 were organ donors only, and 297 also donated eye and/or other tissue.
• Of the 1,677 deceased eye donors in 2025, 1,338 were eye donors only, and 339 also donated organs and/or other tissue.
• Of the 332 deceased tissue donors in 2025, 31 were tissue donors only, and 301 also donated eye and/or organs.

Deceased eye and tissue donors by state and territory in 2025(i)

• In 2025 there were a total of 3,829 tissue donors, which is a 8% increase compared with 2024 (3,531).
• The number of deceased tissue donors has varied over the past 5 years. There were 332 donors in 2025, 6% higher than 2024 (312).

• There were 332 deceased tissue donors, up 6% from 312 in 2024. These deceased donors resulted in 431 tissue donations (some donated multiple tissues).

• The 3,497 living tissue donors in 2025 resulted in 3,462 living tissue donations. This was predominantly from patients undergoing hip joint replacement surgery who donate their femoral head, and also from women post birth who donate the amnion (part of the placenta).
• The number of living tissue donations is 9% higher than 2024 (3,271).

• In 2025 there were 11,843 reported tissue recipients from both living and deceased donors. This is a 44% increase from 2024 (8,244).
• Tissue recipients included 11,156 of musculoskeletal tissue, 287 of cardiovascular tissue, 350 of amnion tissue, 47 of skin tissue and 3 pancreas islets in 2025.

Return to donation and transplantation data to explore more detailed data.