General Blood Statistics
General
- One in three Australians will need blood or blood products in their lifetime
- One in 30 Australians give blood each year (3%)
- One blood donation can save up to three lives
- Australia needs more than 25,000 donations every week
- Demand for blood and blood products will grow by 100% over the next 10 years
Statistics
Donor statistics
- Donors: 606,000
- Collections per day:
- Whole blood: 3,800
- Plasma: 1,300
- Platelets: 154
Collection centres
- Fixed sites: 83
- Donor mobile: 38
- Visiting over 1,000 locations
Checklist
Most people are able to give blood if they:
- Feel fit and healthy
- Are aged between 18 and 70
- Weigh over 50kg
You may be temporarily unable to give blood if you:
- Are on certain medications or antibiotics
- Have a cold or are feeling unwell in any way
- Have certain medical conditions
- Changed medications
- Recently had surgery
- Have had recent dental treatment
- Recently travelled
- Had a piercing
You will not be able to give blood if you:
- Have visited or lived in the UK for a cumulative total of six months or more between 1980 and 1996
- Have engaged in male to male sexual activity or other specified at risk sexual activity in the past 12 months
- Have recently been pregnant or given birth
- Have had a tattoo in the past four months
- Have ever had a serious heart condition
- Have ever had a serious blood disorder or disease
- Have "used drugs" by injection or been injected with drugs not prescribed by a doctor or dentist in the past 5 years.