Global and regional trends

Global and regional trends

The challenge

Some 33.3 million (31.4 million–35.3 million) people were living with HIV as of 2009; 2.5 million (1.6 million–3.4 million) of them were children under 15 years, and about 15.9 million (14.8 million–17.2 million) were women (see Global summary, below). Every day, over 7,000 persons become infected with HIV and about 5,000 persons die from AIDS, mostly because of inadequate access to HIV prevention care and treatment services. Globally, AIDS-related illnesses remain one of the leading causes of death and are projected to continue as a significant global cause of premature mortality in the coming decades.

Roughly 16.6 million (14.4 million–18.8 million) children under the age of 18 have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and millions more have been affected, with a vastly increased risk of poverty, homelessness, school dropout, discrimination and loss of life opportunities. These hardships include illness and death. Of the estimated 1.8 million (1.6 million–2.1 million) people who died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2009, 260,000 (150,000–360,000) of them were children under 15 years old.

Note: The numbers in parentheses are ranges around the estimates that define the boundaries within which the actual numbers lie, based on the best available information.

Source: UNAIDS, Report on the global AIDS epidemic, 2010.

In 2009, around 370,000 (220 000–520 000) children were born with HIV, bringing to 2.5 million (1.6 million–3.4 million) the total number of children under 15 living with HIV. Around 90 per cent of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Children under 15 years living with HIV globally, 2009

Total: 2.5 million (1.6 million - 3.4 million)

Source: UNAIDS, Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, 2010.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region most heavily affected by HIV, with southern Africa remaining the area most heavily affected by the epidemic. In 2009, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for approximately 70% of people living with HIV worldwide and new infections among adults and children. The region also accounted for 72 per cent of the world’s AIDS-related deaths in 2009. Most transmission in this region occurs in heterosexual relationships, both in the context of transactional and commercial sex and in longer-term relationships, including marriage.

As a contrast, in most other regions, HIV disproportionately affects injecting drug users, men who have sex with men, and sex workers. The epidemic is evolving, however, and national epidemics throughout the world are experiencing important transitions. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, epidemics that were once distinguished largely by transmission among injecting drug users are now increasingly characterized by significant sexual transmission. In parts of Asia, epidemics are more and more characterized by significant transmission among heterosexual couples. The epidemic in Asia, which has long been concentrated in injecting drug users, sex workers and their clients, and men who have sex with men, is steadily expanding into lower-risk populations through transmission to the sexual partners of those most at risk.

Click on the link to download regional HIV and AIDS statistics, 2009

Young people aged 15–24 years account for an estimated 41 per cent of new HIV infections worldwide. Globally, young women aged 15–24 years account for 64 per cent of all HIV infections. In sub-Saharan Africa young women aged 15–24 are more than two times more likely to be infected than their male counterparts. In three regions – South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean – are there more young men HIV positive than young women. This reflects the differences in risk behaviours, which requires that interventions be tailored to fit the nature and dynamic of the epidemic.