CHANGCHUN -- China reported 2,459 organ donors in the first five months of 2018, up 24.6 percent year on year, a health official said in northeast China's Jilin Province.

Over 7,500 organ transplant surgeries were performed during the period, up 20.7 percent year on year, Guo Yanhong, from the National Health Commission, said at an ongoing national organ donation and transplant forum in the provincial capital Changchun.

The number of organ donors is expected to exceed 6,000 by the end of this year, said Guo. By comparison, 5,146 organ donors were reported in 2017.

"China is expected to become the country with the most organ donors by 2020," she said.

In China, about 300,000 patients need organ transplants each year.

Volunteers are the only source for transplants after organ trading was outlawed in 2011 and the use of organs from judicial systems was banned in 2015.