10 Black Market Organ Trade and Trafficking Facts, Statistics, and Stories

In a world where morality is often nothing but a figment of our imagination, the 10 black market organ trade and trafficking facts, statistics, and stories will chill you to the bone. The organ trade industry is one of the most terrifying illegal enterprises with a global presence. While you might have heard a story of a person being drugged after a night out and waking up without a kidney, such a story barely ever happens. That does not mean that what actually happens is any less horrifying.

According to the United Nations, there are three common scenarios for organ trade on the black market. The first one is intrinsically linked to the human trafficking trade, and you can learn more about that illegal criminal organization in 16 Statistics About Human Trafficking in the United States. In this situation, the people who are being trafficked are forced by the traffickers to part with their organs without any compensation, while on other occasions, the trafficker employs deceit to achieve their purposes. In the second situation, people who are in dire need of money and have no other methods to obtain cash promise to part with their kidney or a part of their liver for a large sum of cash, but are often underpaid. In the last and probably the most horrific situation, people who suffer from an unrelated ailment are deceived by their doctors who instead, harvest their organs and sell them on the black market. In some cases, the ailment doesn’t even exist!

This despicable practice is a multi-billion dollar industry. In America alone, over an 118,000 people are on the transplant list, with most being unable to gain access due to the lack of donors available. Unfortunately, organ donors are in short supply as many people are still unwilling to donate their organs after their death. Religion may play a part in this as well, as some followers of Islam believe that their religion does not allow the donation of organs, as apparently, that is against God’s will, which I as a Muslim completely disagree with.

While this industry is especially prevalent in the poorer countries, it has a strong presence even in the United States. While the sale of organs has been banned since 1984 in the US, it took 27 years for the first person to be convicted of trafficking organs! If we seriously want to eradicate this crime industry, public awareness is the first step we need to take. With that in mind, here are 10 black market organ trade and trafficking facts, statistics and stories. So, let’s read all those black market organ trade and trafficking facts, statistics, and stories that are waiting us below.

10. What percentage of kidney and liver transplants are made from trafficked organs?

According to the European parliament, around 5 to 10 percent of the kidney or liver transplants made globally are performed with illegally obtained organs.

9. What are the characteristics of the average donor and receiver?

The average donor is generally male and nearly 29 years old, with a measly income of $480, while the recipient tends to earn $53,000 and is around 53 years old.

8. Who are the people involved in the illegal organ trade?

Apart from the patients and seller, surgeons, traffickers, and even brokers are necessary for a single transplant to occur successfully.

7. How many people die every day due to a lack of organ donors?

On average, on a global scale, 21 people die every day due to not being able to find a donor.

6. How many legal transplants took place in the US in 2015?

Perhaps this may shed some light on why this black market exists, only 30,970 legal transplants were performed in 2015 while as mentioned earlier, the waiting list contains over 121,000 people.

5. Have there been any convictions of people engaging in the illegal organ trade?

While convictions have been few and far in between, Levy Rosenbaum is one of the more famous convicts, who was convicted of selling 3 kidneys and only sentenced to 2.5 years and has since been released.

4. Are there examples of organ trafficking victims?

From black market organ trade and trafficking facts, statistics, and stories on our list what ended on fourth spot?Due to the controversy involved, it is often difficult to properly identify a person whose organs have been stolen, especially as those alive refuse to discuss it. For example, after Kendrick Johnson died and a second autopsy showed that his organs were missing, the funeral home claimed they had decomposed and were disposed of, which is why it is hard to prove that he was the victim of organ trafficking.

3. How many organs are harvested through illegal means?

A report by Global Financial Integrity shows that each year around 7,000 kidneys are illegally harvested. Now, let’s what we have on the top two spot on the list of black market organ trade and trafficking facts, statistics, and stories.

2. How much profit do organ traffickers earn?

According to CNN, profits can range between $500 million to $1 billion per year for organ traffickers.

1. How many black market operations involving organs taking place each year?

Rounding off the 10 black market organ trade and trafficking facts, statistics, and stories, the number of black market operations involving organs exceed 10,000 annually!