Basic Statistics
HIV and AIDS remain a persistent problem for the United States and countries around the world. While great progress has been made in preventing and treating HIV, there is still much to do. The questions in this section provide a broad overview of the effects of HIV and AIDS in the United States and globally. For more detailed analysis of HIV data and its impact in the United States, visit our Statistics Center.
In 2018, 37,968 people received an HIV diagnosis in the United States and dependent areas.a The annual number of new diagnoses decreased 7% from 2014 to 2018.
a American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Republic of Palau, and the US Virgin Islands.
An estimated 1.2 million people in the United Statesa had HIV at the end of 2018, the most recent year for which this information is available. Of those people, about 14%, or 1 in 7, did not know they had HIV.
a In the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
There are different ways to answer this question.
In 2018, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with mena accounted for 69% of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States and 6 dependent areas.b,c In the same year, heterosexuals made up 24% of all HIV diagnoses.


Source: CDC. Diagnoses of HIV infection in the United States and dependent areas, 2018 (updated). HIV Surveillance Report 2020;31.
If we look at HIV diagnoses by race and ethnicity, we see that blacks/African Americans are most affected by HIV. In 2018, adult and adolescent blacks/African Americans accounted for 42% of all new HIV diagnoses. Additionally, Hispanics/Latinos are also strongly affected. They accounted for 27% of all new HIV diagnoses.


*Black refers to people having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. African American is a term often used for Americans of African descent with ancestry in North America.
†Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.
Source: CDC. Diagnoses of HIV infection in the United States and dependent areas, 2018 (updated). HIV Surveillance Report 2020;31.
The most affected subpopulation is black/African American gay and bisexual men.


*Black refers to people having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. African American is a term often used for Americans of African descent with ancestry in North America.
†Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.
Subpopulations representing 2% or less of all people who received an HIV diagnosis in 2018 are not represented in this chart.
Source: CDC. Diagnoses of HIV infection in the United States and dependent areas, 2018 (updated). HIV Surveillance Report 2020;31.
There are also variations by age. Young people aged 13 to 24 are especially affected by HIV. In 2018, young people accounted for 21% of all new HIV diagnoses. All young people are not equally at risk, however. Young gay and bisexual men accounted for 83% of all new HIV diagnoses in people aged 13 to 24 in 2018 (includes young gay and bisexual men who inject drugs). Young black/African American gay and bisexual men are even more severely affected, as they represented 42% of new HIV diagnoses among young gay and bisexual men.
CDC’s fact sheets explain the impact of HIV on various populations in the United States.
a The term male-to-male sexual contact is used in CDC surveillance systems. It indicates a behavior that transmits HIV infection, not how individuals self-identify in terms of their sexuality. This web content uses the term gay and bisexual men.
b American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Republic of Palau, and the US Virgin Islands.
c Includes infections attributed to male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use (men who reported both risk factors).
In 2018, there were 15,820 deaths among adults and adolescents with diagnosed HIV in the United States and 6 dependent areas.a These deaths may be due to any cause.
a American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Republic of Palau, and the US Virgin Islands.
Yes. HIV is largely an urban disease, with most cases occurring in metropolitan areas with 500,000 or more people. The South has the highest number of people living with HIV, but if population size is taken into account, the Northeast has the highest rate of people living with HIV. (Rates are the number of cases of disease per 100,000 people. Rates allow number comparisons between groups of different sizes.)
HIV in the United States by Region is a fact sheet that explains the geography of HIV in the United States.
HIV disease continues to be a serious health issue for parts of the world. Worldwide, there were about 1.7 million new cases of HIV in 2018. About 37.9 million people were living with HIV around the world in 2018, and 24.5 million of them were receiving medicines to treat HIV, called antiretroviral therapy (ART). An estimated 770,000 people have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected by HIV and AIDS worldwide, and accounts for about 61% of all new HIV infections. Other regions significantly affected by HIV and AIDS include Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia.
CDC’s Global AIDS website explains what CDC is doing in the global response to HIV and AIDS.
- Terms, Definitions, and Calculations Used in CDC HIV Surveillance Publications
- Surveillance Overview (information about CDC’s HIV and AIDS surveillance activities)
- HIV Surveillance Reports