B positive blood type
Your blood type is determined by genes inherited from your parents.
Whether your blood type is rare, common or somewhere in between, your donations are vital in helping save and improve lives.
How rare is B positive blood?
1 in 13 donors is B positive
This means only 8% of donors have B positive blood.
In total, 10% of people belong to blood group B, making it one of the least common blood groups.
Who can receive B positive blood?
B positive and AB positive people
What blood can B positive people receive?
Blood from groups B and O
People with B positive blood can receive donations from:
- B positive donors
- B negative donors
- O negative donors
- O positive donors
Why is B positive blood important?
It helps treat sickle cell disorder
B positive is an important blood type for treating people with sickle cell and thalassaemia who need regular transfusions.
These conditions affect people of South Asian and Black heritage where B positive blood is more common.
There is currently a very high demand for B positive blood with the subtype Ro.
Approximately 3% of donors have this subtype and we need more.
Find out why the Ro subtype is so important
If you live in Birmingham, Reading or Twickenham, we need B positive donors to donate plasma. Plasma can be made into medicines that treat over 50 diseases.