According to the Economist, “In America, the average waiting time for a kidney is now five years, up from less than a year in the 1980s. In Britain, there are around 6,000 people who need a transplant – and less than 2,000 such operation take place each year.”
Source: “Organ Transplants: Your part or mine?,” The Economist, November 18, 2006. pg. 60.