As of the end of 2003, an estimated 37.8 million people worldwide - 35.7 million adults and 2.1 million children younger than 15 years - were living with HIV/AIDS. Approximately two-thirds of these people (25.0 million) live in Sub-Saharan Africa; another 20 percent (7.4 million) live in Asia and the Pacific.(1)
Worldwide, approximately 11 of every 1000 adults aged 15 to 49 are HIV-infected. In Sub-Saharan Africa, about 7.5 percent of all adults in this age group are HIV-infected. Woman account for nearly half of all people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS. (1)
An estimated 4.8 million new HIV infections occurred worldwide during 2003; that is, about 14,000 infections each day. More than 95 percent of these new infections occurred in developing countries.(1)
In 2003, approximately 1,700 children under the age of 15 years, and 6,000 young people aged 15 to 24 years became infected with HIV every day.(1)
More than 20 million people with HIV/AIDS have died since the first AIDS cases were identified in 1981.(1)
In 2003 alone, HIV/AIDS-associated illnesses caused the deaths of approximately 2.9 million people worldwide, including an estimated 490,000 children younger than 15 years.(1)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 850,000 to 950,000 U.S. residents are living with HIV infection, one-quarter of whom are unaware of their infection.(2)
Approximately 40,000 new HIV infections occur each year in the United States, about 70 percent among men and 30 percent among women. Of these newly infected people, half are younger than 25 years of age.(3,4)
Of new infections among men in the United States, CDC estimates that approximately 60 percent of men were infected through homosexual sex, 25 percent through injection drug use, and 15 percent through heterosexual sex. Of newly infected men, approximately 50 percent are black, 30 percent are white, 20 percent are Hispanic, and a small percentage are members of other racial/ethnic groups.(4)
Of new infections among women in the United States, CDC estimates that approximately 75 percent of women were infected through heterosexual sex and 25 percent through injection drug use. Of newly infected women, approximately 64 percent are black, 18 percent are white, 18 percent are Hispanic, and a small percentage are members of other racial/ethnic groups.(4)
The estimated number of AIDS diagnoses through 2002 in the United States is 886,575. Adult and adolescent AIDS cases total 877,275, with 718,002 cases in males and 159,271 cases in females. Through the same time period, 9,300 AIDS cases were estimated in children under age 13.(5)
The estimated number of new adult/adolescent AIDS diagnoses in the United States was 43,225 in 1998, 41,134 in 1999, 42,239 in 2000, 41,227 in 2001, and 42,136 in 2002.(5)
The estimated number of new pediatric AIDS cases (cases among individuals younger than age 13) in the United States fell from 952 in 1992 to 92 in 2002.(5)
The estimated rate of adult/adolescent AIDS diagnoses in the United States in 2002 (per 100,000 population) was 76.4 among blacks, 26.0 among Hispanics, 11.2 among American Indians/Alaska Natives, 7.0 among whites, and 4.9 among Asians/Pacific Islanders.(5)
From 1985 to 2002, the proportion of adult/adolescent AIDS cases in the United States reported in women increased from 7 percent to 26 percent.(5)
As of the end of 2002, an estimated 384,906 people in the United States were living with AIDS.(5)
As of December 31, 2002, an estimated 501,669 people with AIDS in the United States had died.(5)
The estimated annual number of AIDS-related deaths in the United States fell approximately 14 percent from 1998 to 2002, from 19,005 deaths in 1998 to 16,371 deaths in 2002.(5)
Of the estimated 16,371 AIDS-related deaths in the United States in 2002, approximately 52 percent were among blacks, 28 percent among whites, 19 percent among Hispanics, and less than 1 percent among Asians/Pacific Islanders and American Indians/Alaska Natives.(5)
REFERENCES
1. UNAIDS. 2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, July, 2004.
2. Fleming, P.L. et al. HIV Prevalence in the United States, 2000. 9th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Seattle, Wash., Feb. 24-28, 2002. Abstract 11.
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). HIV and AIDS - United States, 1981-2001. MMWR 2001;50:430-434.
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). HIV Prevention Strategic Plan Through 2005. January 2001.
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report 2002;14:1-40.