Where you live makes a difference

The number of people with HIV has risen in every region of the world in the past decade, with large increases being seen in East Asia and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the worst affected region, with 22 million people living with HIV at the end of 2008.. UNAIDS estimates that 1.9 million people in this region were newly infected with HIV in 2008. Sub-Saharan Africa has 10% of the world’s population, but 67% of all people living with HIV live there. More than three-quarters (77%) of all the women living with HIV worldwide live in Sub-Saharan Africa.

There were 1.4 million HIV-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa in 2008, which is an 18% decrease from 2004. This is mainly due to better access to anti-retroviral medication. However, death rates vary between countries in the region. Southern Africa has been the hardest hit. In Swaziland, for example, life expectancy halved between 1990 and 2007 to 37 years. The rate of HIV infection among adults seems to be stabilising at about 5% for the entire region, although this too varies. This stabilisation is due mainly to a balance between the number of new HIV infections and the number of AIDS-related deaths.

Asia

Asia is second only to sub-Saharan Africa in terms of numbers of people living with HIV. In 2008, there were 4.7 million people living with HIV in Asia. UNAIDS estimates that around 350,000 people in Asia became newly infected in 2008. The epidemic has stabilised in Asia, but in 2008 there were around 330,000 AIDS related deaths in the region. HIV-related deaths in East Asia are increasing rapidly, with the number of deaths in 2008 three times higher than in 2000.

Other regions

After Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean has the second highest rate of HIV infections among adults in the world at 1.1%. By comparison, South and South-East Asia and North America had adult prevalence rates of 0.3% and 0.6% respectively in 2008; Latin America, 0.6%; Western and Central Europe, 0.3%; North Africa and the Middle East, 0.2%; and East Asia less than 0.1%. Globally, the average rate of HIV among adults is 0.8%.

Women

Whilst HIV in Western Europe and the UK disproportionately affects gay men, across the globe, women are often more vulnerable to HIV. Just under half (47%) of all the people living with HIV worldwide in 2008 were women and in sub-Saharan Africa, this proportion rises to 60%. In some countries, particularly in Africa, HIV prevalence amongst women is estimated to be twice that amongst men. Initiatives to prevent violence against women, improve women’s rights and increase access to contraception will all be essential in tackling the female HIV epidemic.