2005 National Survey of Organ and Tissue Donation Attitudes and Behaviors

3.0 Findings

This section summarizes the findings of the survey. Subsections address organ donation attitudes, organ donation behaviors, living donation, presumed consent, and beliefs about organ donation.

3.1 General Organ Donation Attitudes

In general, do you strongly support, support, oppose, or strongly oppose the donation of organs for transplants?

Figure 1 (and Table 2) show that support for organ donation is very strong. Nearly half (40.5%) of Americans reported that they "strongly support" the donation of organs for transplants. A slightly larger number report that they "support" the donation of organs, together totaling 95.4% who “support” or “strongly support.” By contrast, less than 5% of Americans “oppose” or “strongly oppose” the donation of organs for transplants. This amounts to about a two percentage-point increase in support of organ donation over 1993.

Figure 1. Support for Organ Donation, 1993 and 2005

How likely are you to have your organs donated after your death? Would you say very likely, somewhat likely, not very likely, or not at all likely?

As Figure 2 illustrates, a large proportion of Americans report that they are likely to have their organs donated after their deaths. Slightly more than half (51.4%) report that this is “very likely,” while another 26.8% report that it is “likely.” This is a significant increase over those who reported that they would be “very likely” or “likely” to donate in 1993. More than 20% of 2005 respondents, however, say that they would be “not very likely” or “not at all likely” to have their organs donated after their deaths.

Figure 2. Likelihood of Organ Donation, 1993–2005

As Table 2 shows, women are more likely than men to support donation or report that they are likely to donate their organs after death. Those in the 34- to 55-year-old age group exhibit more strong support and are more likely to donate than those in the older or younger age groups. Race, however, shows an interesting pattern. Overall, about the same proportion in each racial/ethnic group reports that they “strongly support” or “support” organ donation: White (96.5%), Black (94.2%), Latino (91.2%), Asian (95.1%), but the strength of support differs widely across these groups. More than 40% of Whites and Asians, about 36% of Latinos, and less than 30% of Blacks say they “strongly support” the donation of organs. More than 50% of Whites, Latinos, and Asians and nearly two-thirds of Blacks “support” the donation of organs for transplant, but not strongly.

Table 2. Support for Organ Donation by Gender, Age, Race/Ethnicity, and Education
Results in percentages

A starker contrast is seen between race/ethnicity when one turns to likelihood of donating, as seen in Figure 3. Nearly three in five Whites indicate they are “very likely” to donate their organs, two-fifths of Latinos and only about one-third of Blacks or Asians indicate this. Although all groups are above 60% for “very likely” and “somewhat likely” together, more than a third in the three minority groups fall in the softer “somewhat likely” category.

Figure 3. Likelihood of Organ Donation, by Race/Ethnicity, 2005

Education is strongly related to both support for organ donation and reported likelihood of donating one’s organs. Only about a quarter (26.3%) of those with high school educations or less “strongly support” the donation of organs, whereas more than 40% of those with some college or more education “strongly support” donation. Similarly, 34.7% of those with high school educations or less indicate that they are “very likely” to donate their organs upon their deaths, whereas more than half of those with some college and 60% of those with college educations or higher say they are “very likely” to donate their organs.

Some of the items used in the survey questionnaire for this study are proprietary content owned by The Gallup Organization. A complete list is found on the Copyright page. Copyright © 1993, 2005 The Gallup Organization, Washington, D.C. All rights reserved.