Colorado AIDS Project | HIV | Global Statistics

At the end of 2005, an estimated 40.3 million people worldwide—38 million adults and 2.3 million children younger than 15 years—were living with HIV/AIDS. (UNAIDS: Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic)

Worldwide, approximately one in every 100 adults aged 15 to 49 is HIV-infected. (UNAIDS)

The increase in the proportion of women being affected by the epidemic continues. In 2005, 17.5 million [16.2–19.3 million] women were living with HIV—one million more than in 2003. Thirteen and a half million [12.5–15.1 million] of those women live in sub-Saharan Africa. The widening impact on women is apparent also in South and South-East Asia (where almost two million women now have HIV) and in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. (UNAIDS)

Sub-Saharan Africa remains hardest-hit, and is home to 25.8 million [23.8–28.9 million] people living with HIV, almost one million more than in 2003. Two thirds of all people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa, as are 77% of all women with HIV (see pages 17-30). An estimated 2.4 million [2.1–2.7 million] people died of HIV-related illnesses in this region in 2005, while a further 3.2 million [2.8–3.9 million] became infected with HIV. (UNAIDS)

Growing epidemics are underway in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (see pages 45-53), and in East Asia. In the former, the number of people living with HIV has increased by one quarter (to 1.6 million) since 2003, and the number of AIDS deaths almost doubled (to 62 000) in the same period. In East Asia, the number of people living with HIV in 2005 increased by one fifth (to 870 000), compared with two years earlier. (UNAIDS)

An estimated 4.9 million new HIV infections occurred worldwide in 2005; that is, approximately 13,500 infections each day. More than 95% of these new infections occurred in developing countries. (UNAIDS)

In 2005, approximately 2000 young people under that age of 15 became infected with HIV every day— that is, 1.3 every minute. (UNAIDS)

In 2005, approximately 2.1 million people died of AIDS worldwide. (UNAIDS)

Since first being recognized in 1981, AIDS has killed more than 25 million people, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history

Worldwide, more than 75% of all adult HIV infections have resulted from heterosexual intercourse. (Quinn T. Global burden of the HIV pandemic. Lancet 1996)