The Global AIDS Pandemic: Key Facts

Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are from the 2009 UNAIDS AIDS Epidemic Update.
  

• The HIV/AIDS pandemic causes approximately 7,400 new infections and 5,500 deaths daily.
• An estimated 33.4 million people worldwide were living with HIV in 2008, two-thirds (67 percent) of whom were in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Approximately 2.7 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2008, 1.9 million in sub-Saharan Africa.
• In 2008, approximately 2 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses. Approximately 75 percent of these deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Nearly 1,200 children under 15 years of age are infected with HIV every day, most as a result of mother-to-child transmission of the virus.
• Without treatment, 50 percent of newborns infected with HIV will die before their second birthdays. (UNAIDS, Towards Universal Access 2009)
• Approximately 2.1 million children were living with HIV in 2008, up from 1.6 million in 2001. Children make up approximately 6 percent of the total number of people living with HIV.
• An estimated 430,000 children were newly infected with HIV in 2008 – approximately 16 percent of the total new infections.
• An estimated 280,000 children died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2008 – approximately 14 percent of the total deaths due to AIDS.
• In 2008, approximately 390,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa were newly infected with HIV. This represents more than 90 percent of all new HIV infections in children worldwide.
• In 2008, more than 14.1 million children in sub-Saharan Africa were estimated to have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
• Approximately 15.7 million women were living with HIV in 2008, up from 13.8 million in 2001.
• According to the UN, in 2008 less than half (45 percent ) of pregnant women living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries received the medicines they needed to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies, and only 32 percent of HIV-exposed infants received medicines to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
• In sub-Saharan Africa in 2008, women accounted for approximately 60% of estimated HIV infections.
• As of December 2008, more than 4 million adults and children living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) for their illness. This represents just 42 percent of the 9.5 million people in need of ART. (UNAIDS, Towards Universal Access 2009)
• In 2008, 275,700 children living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries were receiving ART. (UNAIDS, Towards Universal Access 2009)

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