I’ve learned a lot in my past year as a Blood Donor Recruiter here at Incept, proving true the old adage “you learn something new every day.” The blood banking industry is full of facts and statistics that you never would have expected, and it’s continuously changing!
Here’s a list of the top-10 most interesting facts and stats I’ve come across:
- 94% of blood donors are registered voters.
- Blood or plasma that comes from people who have been paid for it cannot be used in human transfusions.
- Most red blood cells can be stored for forty-two days; platelets can be stored for up to five days; plasma can be frozen and saved for a year.
- Thirteen tests (eleven for infectious diseases) are performed on each unit of donated blood.
- More than 38,000 blood donations are needed every day. That’s over 13,870,000 donations each year!
- The most common blood type in the US is O+ (38.4% of Americans share this type). The least common is AB- (Only 0.7% of American share this type).
- A newborn baby has about one cup of blood in their body.
- The average adult has about 10 pints of blood in their body.
- There are about one billion red blood cells in two to three drops of blood; for every 600 red blood cells, there are about 40 platelets and 1 white cell.
- It is not uncommon for women of childbearing ages to be slightly iron deficient. 75% of women ages 18 to 44 get only about half of their recommended daily requirement of iron. Don’t worry, though, iron levels vary from day-to-day.
These are just a small sampling of all of the fascinating things I’ve learned about blood and the blood banking industry. What are some fun blood facts or statistics you’ve heard?
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