(Yicai Global) July 24 -- China is the second biggest market for organ donations globally with over 18,000 donors providing more than 52,000 organs to date.

Some 490,000 volunteers have now signed up to China Organ Donation Administrative Center's program, state-backed China News Service reported.

China first started a drive in 2015 to encourage citizens to agree to after-death organ donations, and the country now ranks top across Asia in terms of total donations.

The rate of organ donations per million population reached 3.71 last year, up from 0.03 in 2010, said Gao Xinpu, deputy director of the organ donation body's medical department. "However, compared with European and American countries, China's PMP rate is still very low. Spain reached close to 50 last year."

As China's vast population still faces a severe shortage of organs. Some 300,000 patients every year need transplants resulting from end-stage organ failure, but only 16,000 people receive donated organs.

Editor: William Clegg