HIV/AIDS Statistics

HIV/AIDS WORLDWIDE

• As of December 1997, an estimated 30.6 million people worldwide -- 29.5 million adults and 1.1 million children younger than 15 years -- were living with HIV/AIDS. ¹

• Worldwide, approximately one in every 100 adults aged 15 to 49 is HIV- infected. ¹

• Approximately 41 percent of the 29.5 million adults living with HIV/AIDS worldwide are women; this proportion is growing. ¹

• An estimated 5.8 million new HIV infections occurred worldwide during 1997; that is, approximately 16,000 infections each day. More than 90 percent of these new infections occurred in developing countries. ¹

• By the year 2000, an estimated 40 million people worldwide will be HIV-infected. ^{1, 2}

• Through 1997, cumulative HIV/AIDS-associated deaths worldwide numbered approximately 11.7 million -- 9 million adults and 2.7 million children. ¹

• In 1997 alone, HIV/AIDS-associated illnesses caused the deaths of approximately 2.3 million people worldwide, including an estimated 460,000 children younger than 15 years. ¹

• Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, approximately 8.2 million children younger than 15 years have been orphaned worldwide because of the premature deaths of HIV-infected parents. ¹

• Worldwide, more than 75 percent of all adult HIV infections have resulted from heterosexual intercourse. ²

• Mother-to-child (vertical) transmission has accounted for more than 90 percent of all HIV infections worldwide in infants and children. ^1,2

HIV/AIDS IN THE UNITED STATES

• In the United States, 612,078 cases of AIDS had been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as of June 30, 1997. ⁵

• Of these, 511,934 (84 percent) were males aged 13 or older, 92,242 (15 percent) were females aged 13 or older, and 7,902 (1 percent) were children under age 13. ⁵

• New AIDS cases reported to the CDC declined 12 percent from the first six months of 1996 (33,590 cases) to the first six months of 1997 (29,520 cases). ⁹

• From 1985 to 1996, the proportion of U.S. AIDS cases in women reported each year increased from 7 percent to 20 percent. ⁴

• Among U.S. residents with AIDS reported in 1996, blacks accounted for a larger proportion of AIDS cases (41 percent) than whites (38 percent) for the first time. Hispanics accounted for 19 percent of U.S. AIDS cases reported in 1996; Asians/Pacific Islanders and American Indians/Alaskan Natives, fewer than 1 percent. ⁴

• A recent study estimated that 650,000 to 900,000 U.S. residents were living with HIV infection. ⁶

• As of July 1997, an estimated 259,000 people in the United States were living with AIDS. ⁹

• During 1996, the rate of new AIDS cases per 100,000 population in the United States was 89.7 among blacks, 41.3 among Hispanics, 13.5 among whites, 10.7 among American Indians/Alaskan Natives, and 5.9 among Asians/Pacific Islanders. ⁴

• Among men diagnosed with AIDS in the United States in 1996, male-to-male sexual contact accounted for the largest proportion of cases (50 percent), followed by injection drug use (23 percent). ⁴

• Among women diagnosed with AIDS in the United States in 1996, most acquired HIV infection through sexual contact with a man with or at risk of HIV infection (40 percent) or through injection drug use (34 percent). ⁴

• Heterosexual transmission accounts for an increasing proportion of AIDS cases in the United States. From 1988 to 1995, the proportion of U.S. AIDS cases attributed to heterosexual contact each year grew from 4.8 percent to 17.7 percent. ⁷

• Through June 1997, 379,258 deaths among people with AIDS had been reported to the CDC. ⁵ AIDS is now the second leading cause of death in the United States among people aged 25 to 44. ⁸

• Approximately 50,140 deaths among people with AIDS occurred in the United States in 1995. In 1996, the estimated number of AIDS deaths in the United States was 23 percent lower (38,780). ³ AIDS deaths declined 44 percent from the first six months of 1996 (21,460 deaths) to the first six months of 1997 (12,040 deaths). ⁹