Friday, Jul 24, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ ↗
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HEALTH

The Claim

In 2011, there were 400 people on the transplant waiting list in New Zealand.

Verified by Lenz ·

The Short Version

The claim is directionally accurate but not exact. The strongest official evidence puts New Zealand’s organ transplant waiting list at 420 people on 31 December 2011, while other sources describe the figure more loosely as about 400 to 500. Saying “400” is a reasonable approximation, but it understates the specific official year-end count and leaves out that the list changed over time.

Caveats

  • The best official figure identified for 2011 is 420 at 31 December, not exactly 400.
  • Waiting-list totals are point-in-time counts and can fluctuate during the year, so a single number needs a date.
  • Some sources use rounded public estimates; those should not be treated as exact historical statistics.

The Receipts

  1. NEAC advice on access to organ transplantation

    National Ethics Advisory Committee (NEAC), Ministry of Health New Zealand

  2. Organ donation and transplant statistics; Organ donation waiting list.

    FYI.org.nz (Official Information Act request portal)

  3. Response to your request for official information - Ministry of Health (H2022007829)

    Ministry of Health – Manatū Hauora (New Zealand)

  4. Fatal Flaws: New Zealand's Human Tissue Act Fails to Provide an Effective Organ Donation System

    University of Washington School of Law (Washington International Law Journal)

  5. Access and Equity in Transplantation (ASSET) New Zealand

    PLOS ONE (via PubMed Central)

  6. Incentives for Organ Donation: Proposed Standards for an Internationally Acceptable System

    National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) / PubMed Central

  7. Assessment of heart transplant waitlist time and pre- and post-transplant outcomes in the United States

    National Institutes of Health / PLOS ONE (via PubMed Central)

  8. Increasing levels of live kidney transplantation in New Zealand

    Social Policy Journal of New Zealand / Kidney Donor New Zealand (hosted PDF)

  9. Biological, Behavioural and Spurious Selection on the Kidney Transplant Waiting List

    IZA Institute of Labor Economics

  10. Submission of New Zealand Transplant Society Inc to Health Committee Inquiry into Improving New Zealand’s Environment to Support Innovation through Clinical Trials (organ donation section)

    New Zealand Parliament

+ 6 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

New Zealand

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