WORLDWIDE HIV & AIDS STATISTICS

• WORLDWIDE:
  As of late in 2006, the world population (the total number of human beings alive on the planet Earth) was 6.5 billion people.

In 2006, there were approximately 42 million people in the world living with HIV and AIDS, and 74 % of these people live in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Over 19 million women worldwide are currently living with HIV/AIDS.
• There are 2.3 million children worldwide living with HIV/AIDS.
• Over 22 million people worldwide have died from AIDS since 1981.
• There were 2.9 million deaths worldwide from AIDS in 2006.
• The United Nations estimates that there are currently 14 million AIDS orphans worldwide, and they have predicted that number to increase to 25 million children by the year 2010.
• Ethiopia, Nigeria, China, India, and Russia account for 40% of the world's population, and it is estimated that there will be 50-75 million people infected with HIV living in these areas by the year 2010.
• Every day, 14,ooo new HIV infections are diagnosed worldwide; 95% of these people live in developing nations.
• There are approximately 5 million new infections worldwide each year, with half of them occurring in people ages 15-24 years.

UNITED STATES STATISTICS:

• It is estimated that 1 million people in the United States are currently living with HIV and AIDS.
• There were approximately 14.000 deaths due to AIDS in the U.S. in 2006.
• Approximately 40,ooo new infections are diagnosed each year.
• Half of all new infections in the U.S. occur in people less than 25 years of age.
• 70% of new infections in the U.S. occur in men, and 30% occur in women.
• 75% of the new infections occurring in women in the U.S. are transmitted heterosexually.
• 54% of the new infections in the U.S. occur in African Americans; 64% of all new infections among women in the U.S. occur in African American women.
• HIV/AIDS has been reported in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all U.S. territories.
• It is estimated that there are up to 1/4 million people in the U.S. who are HIV positive and are unaware of their status.

These are very alarming statistics; it is possible that these numbers are actually low, especially for the worldwide cases, as many developing nations lack the sophistication to track and report cases accurately. People are living longer with HIV/AIDS due to advances in the development of new antiretroviral medications and better laboratory monitoring. In addition, the availability of rapid HIV testing procedures has helped to diagnose more people at an earlier stage of HIV disease, getting them into treatment before the disease progresses to AIDS.

It is clear that action needs to be taken by all of the nations in the world to launch widespread campaigns to educate people about HIV/AIDS and about the use of condoms and other means to prevent infection. This has become much more than a health issue; it is now one of the most important social and political issues in the world today.