HIV/AIDS
Global mortality data, country rankings, and trends for HIV/AIDS from 1990 to 2021.
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HIV/AIDS is a significant contributor to the global burden of disease. This page presents data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) Global Burden of Disease Study, showing mortality trends, country rankings, and regional patterns. Understanding the epidemiology of hiv/aids helps inform public health interventions and resource allocation.
This data is sourced from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) Global Burden of Disease Study 2023, processed via Our World in Data. Values represent each cause's share of total deaths (%) unless otherwise noted. Explore related mortality data using the links below.
HIV/AIDS has claimed over 40 million lives since the epidemic began in the early 1980s. Human Immunodeficiency Virus destroys CD4+ T-cells, progressively weakening the immune system until opportunistic infections and cancers become lethal — the stage known as AIDS. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicentre, home to approximately two-thirds of all people living with HIV. Southern Africa bears the heaviest burden, with countries like Eswatini and Lesotho recording adult prevalence rates above 20%. Combination antiretroviral therapy (ART), available since 1996, has transformed HIV into a manageable chronic condition for those with access. Annual AIDS-related deaths have declined from a peak of approximately 1.9 million in 2004 to under 650,000 by 2022. However, 1.3 million new infections still occur each year, with key populations — men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, sex workers, and transgender people — disproportionately affected. Treatment coverage gaps persist in West and Central Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, where stigma, criminalisation, and health system weaknesses impede progress toward the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets.
Across 210 countries, hiv/aids accounts for an average of 2.3% of total deaths. Regional disparities are substantial: Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest regional average at 8.1%, while Europe & Central Asia records the lowest at 0.1% — a 65.9-fold difference that underscores the geographic inequality in hiv/aids mortality burden.
HIV prevention combines biomedical, behavioural, and structural approaches. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) reduces acquisition risk by over 90%. Condom use, voluntary male circumcision, harm reduction for people who inject drugs, and elimination of mother-to-child transmission are all proven strategies. Treatment as prevention (U=U: undetectable equals untransmittable) means that people on effective ART cannot sexually transmit the virus. Achieving the 95-95-95 targets — 95% diagnosed, 95% on treatment, 95% virally suppressed — would effectively end AIDS as a public health threat.