HIV Statistics

Global HIV/AIDS situation (2021)

  • Number of people living with HIV: 38.4 million
  • People newly infected with HIV: 1.5 million.
  • AIDS-related deaths: 650,000 people.
  • 28.7 million people living with HIV were accessing antiretroviral therapy.
  • About 5.9 million people did not know that they were living with HIV in 2021.

Source: UNAIDS, 2022

HIV/AIDS situation by region (2021)

Region People living with HIV New infections 2021 AIDS deaths 2021 People accessing treatment 2021
Eastern and southern Africa 20.6 million 670,000 280,000 16.2 million
Latin America 2.2 million 110,000 29,000 1.5 million
The Caribbean 330,000 14,000 5,7000 230,000
Asia and the Pacific 6.0 million 260,000 140,000 4.0 million
Eastern Europe and central Asia 1.8 million 160,000 44,000 930,000
Middle East and North Africa 180,000 14,000 51,000 88,000
Western and central Europe and North America 2.3 million 63,000 13,000 1.9 million

Source: UNAIDS, 2022

For HIV prevalence rates by country go to http://aidsinfo.unaids.org/

HIV in Australia (2021)

  • An estimated 29,090 people were living with HIV in Australia at the end of 2020.
  • The main mode of HIV transmission continues to be sexual contact between men, which accounted for 74% of diagnosis in 2016; a further 23% of cases were attributed to heterosexual sex, 2% to injecting drug use, and <1% to mother to child, blood transmissions, etc.
  • An estimated 2,610 (9%) people living with HIV were unaware of their HIV status (undiagnosed). About 44% of all new HIV cases were diagnosed late.
  • Among people reporting heterosexual sex as their exposure risk 59% were diagnosed late in 2020, compared with 31% in those reporting male to male sex.
  • 91% of people with diagnosed HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy overall in 2020 (92% of males and 93% of
    females.
  • 80% of all people living with HIV having a suppressed viral load in 2020.

Source: Kirby Institute, 2021

HIV among culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Australia:

  • At least 15% of all people newly diagnosed with HIV in 2020 spoke a language other than English at home.
  • Over the past five years (2016–2020) the proportion of late HIV diagnoses was higher among people born in
    Sub‑Saharan Africa (54%), Southeast Asia (52%), and Central or South America (36%).
  • The proportion of late HIV diagnoses was also higher among people who reported heterosexual sex as their HIV risk exposure (49%) and in particular, men aged over 50 years with heterosexual sex as their HIV risk exposure (58%).

Source: Kirby Institute, 2021

HIV notification rates per 100,000 population in Australia, years 2011 and 2020, by region of birth

Region 2011 2020
Australia 4.0 2.0
Oceania 5.7 4.6
North-West Europe and North America 4.6 1.2
Southern and Eastern Europe 4.7 1.1
North Africa and the Middle East 3.2 1.8
South-East Asia 8.4 7.9
North-East Asia 4.2 0.9
Southern and Central Asia 3.1 1.4
Sub-Saharan Africa 14.8 10.8

Source: Kirby Institute, 2021

HIV in NSW

Of 633 new HIV diagnoses in Australia in 2020:
• 216 (34%) occurred in NSW. (Kirby Institute, 2020)