HIV Fact Sheets

HIV Prevention in the United States:

Expanding the Impact

Expanding the Impact
Today’s Epidemic	Proven Prevention Methods	Progress To Date	Challenges in HIV Prevention	Future of HIV Prevention

The Scope and Impact of HIV in the United States

New Infections and Overall Burden

Since the height of the epidemic in the mid-1980s, the annual number of new HIV infections in the United States has been reduced by more than two-thirds, from roughly 130,000 to 50,000 annually.² As a result of treatment advances since the late 1990s, the number of people living with HIV (HIV prevalence) has increased dramatically.¹ Yet, despite increasing HIV prevalence and more opportunities for HIV transmission, the number of new infections has been relatively stable since the mid-1990s.²

HIV Prevalence and New Infections, 1980-2010

This graph shows the HIV prevalence and new infections in the United States, from 1980 to 2010. The number of people living with HIV has climbed steadily in this period, with the exception of 1989 - 1995, when there was a plateau around 700,000 cases. There were fewer than 100,000 individuals living with HIV in 1980, and approximately 1.1 million in 2010. Three methodologies were used to estimate new cases of HIV: from 1980 through 2004, new infections were estimated using back-calculation methodology; in 2007, new HIV infections were calculated using the original incidence surveillance methodology; and from 2007 through 2010, new HIV infections were calculated using an updated incidence surveillance methodology. New HIV infections peaked in 1984 and 1985 approximately 130,000 and are now roughly stable at approximately 50,000.

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Heavily Affected Subgroups

U.S. Subpopulations with the Largest Numbers of Estimated New HIV Infections, 2010

This bar chart shows estimated new HIV infections in 2009 by race/ethnicity, risk group, and gender for the most-affected subpopulations in the United States. Gay and bisexual men of all races and black heterosexual women and men account for the greatest number of new HIV infections in the United States. Specifically, the chart shows that there were: 11,200 infections among white men who have sex with men (MSM); 10,600 infections among black MSM; 6,700 infections among Hispanic MSM; 5,300 infections among black heterosexual women; 2,700 infections among black heterosexual men; 1,300 infections among white heterosexual women; 1,200 infections among Hispanic heterosexual women; 1,100 infections among black male injection drug users (IDUs); 850 infections among black female IDUs; 780 new infections among Hispanic heterosexual men.

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By transmission category, the largest number of new HIV infections currently occurs among men who have sex with men (MSM) of all races and ethnicities, followed by African American heterosexual women. By race/ ethnicity overall, African Americans are the most heavily affected, followed by Latinos.²

Geography of the U.S. Epidemic

AIDS Cases and Rates (per 100,000 population), by Region, 2010

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HIV touches Americans in every corner of the nation. Because of differences in HIV reporting practices among states, national surveillance data on AIDS cases currently provide the clearest picture of the regional impact of the epidemic. According to these data, by region, the number of people diagnosed with AIDS is highest in the South (14,722 in 2010), followed by the Northeast (7,824), the West (6,292), and the Midwest (4,178).³

However, when taking into account differences in the sizes of the population in these regions, the rate of AIDS diagnoses (number of diagnoses per 100,000 people) is highest in the Northeast. The rate of AIDS diagnoses in the Northeast in 2010 was 14.2, followed by the South (13.0), the West (8.8), and the Midwest (6.3). The Midwest is the only region in which rates have increased in recent years. From 2007 through 2010, rates in the Northeast and the South decreased and the rate in the West remained stable.³

HIV remains mainly an urban disease, with the majority of individuals diagnosed with AIDS in 2010 residing in areas with 500,000 or more people. Areas hardest hit (by ranking of AIDS cases per 100,000 people) include Baton Rouge, LA; Miami, FL; Jackson, MS; Baltimore, MD; New Orleans, LA; Columbia, SC; Washington, DC; and New York City, NY.³