Voluntary blood donations increase in 2023
Seven in every 10 units of blood collected in Greece last year came from voluntary blood donations, the annual report from the National Blood Donation Center has shown.
The agency said that 13,630 more units of blood were voluntarily donated in 2023, bringing the total of voluntarily donated blood to 378,904 units.
The report also noted that the share of replacement blood – where relatives of friends donate blood in the name of a specific patient – among the total donated fell from 35% to 31.3% thanks to the increase in purely voluntary donations.
Of the total of 570,974 units donated by voluntary and replacement donors, 550,974 units were collected in Greece, while 20,000 units were received from the Swiss Red Cross for the exclusive use of patients with Mediterranean anemia (thalassemia).
A total of 509,472 blood transfusions were performed in 2023, of which 98,605 units went to patients with Mediterranean anemia and similar blood disorders.
Cretans donated the most blood to the national blood bank, contributing 64.7 units per 1,000 inhabitants, followed by the Ionian Islands (60.5 units/thousand) and Attica (54.4 units/thousand).
The national average stood at 52.6 units per 1,000 inhabitants.
Least likely to provide blood were citizens in the Peloponnese (41.2 units/thousand) and Western Macedonia (41.5 units/thousand), with Central Greece (33.5 units/thousand) bottom of the table.
People in Corfu were most likely to be voluntary donors, providing 121.76 units/thousand in total, of which 50.87 units/thousand came from voluntary donors.
