This National Blood Donor Week, New Zealand Blood Service is revealing new figures that show a significant drop in the number of youth donors on its registry over the past five years.
Since 2020, there has been a 25% decrease in the number of 16–25-year-olds who have donated at least once in a two-year period, dropping from 24,394 in April 2020 to 18,237 in April 2025. The average age of a blood or plasma donor in Aotearoa has increased to 43, and more than 18% (or 25,000) of donors are aged 60 and over.
While New Zealand Blood Service is encouraging eligible people of all ages to 'find their superpower’ by becoming a blood or plasma donor, Chief Executive Sam Cliffe says the decline in youth donors is a worrying trend. She attributes much of this drop to the impact of COVID-19, which disrupted school-based donation programmes.
“For many people, their first introduction to blood donation was through their school or university. But the COVID-19 lockdowns and the lingering impacts of the pandemic has meant our donor recruitment teams have missed a whole cohort of young people to introduce to blood donation.
“In the last 12-months, 25% of our total donations came from donors aged over 60, and just 9% from donors aged 16-25. We’re extremely grateful to all our donors, but when we look at our long-term supply strategy, its essential we start to encourage greater numbers of young people to become blood and plasma donors,” continues Sam.
“Anecdotally, we know that when people join the donor registry when they’re young, they’re more likely to become life-long donors, which is why historically our engagement through education has been so important.
“Blood and plasma donation is a quiet superpower with a big impact. It doesn’t cost anything, doesn’t take up too much of your time, but the result is powerful. Our app provides notifications to donors to let them know when their blood has been used to help save a life. And if you’re a little bit unsure or nervous about making your first donation, you can do it with a friend!”
Bianca Koper, a 25-year-old PhD student and sports scientist for the Blues rugby team, donated for the first time last month at the Epsom Donor Centre.
“I didn’t have a reason for not donating, I just never got around to it. One of my friends set herself a challenge to complete 25 donations before her 25th birthday and that was what encouraged me to book my first appointment.
“I was quite surprised by how straightforward the whole process was, it was easy to book an appointment, the reception staff are great at getting you set up with the paperwork, and once I was in the chair, it felt like the donation was over in a matter of minutes. I’ve already booked another appointment, this time to donate plasma.
“The snacks provided were definitely a bonus, but for me the best part was getting a notification about a week after I donated to say my blood had been used! It’s a pretty special feeling knowing something you’ve done is helping to save lives.”
