Hispanics are less likely to donate organs than the rest of America despite the fact they make up 45% of patients on the waiting list

In 2009, a total of 1,960 Latinos donated their organs - 13.9% - in comparison to 9,988 donated by white people - 68.3%. Currently, 45% of patients on the national waiting list are from the Hispanic community. On average, 26 people out of every million donate their organs in America. The number of Hispanics is thought to be as much as a third lower than this. First- and second-generation Mexican-Americans are the least likely to donate organs, according to organ donation experts. In South Texas along the Rio Grande from Brownsville to Laredo, where Latinos make up the vast majority of 1.4 million residents - many of them first-generation Mexican-Americans - organs from just 19 individuals were donated in 2010.