Men: Epidemiology Fact Sheet

• Globally, over half of all people living with HIV/AIDS are men (53%).

• In most regions of the world, two-thirds or more of the people living with HIV/AIDS are men:*

  • Australia, New Zealand and Eastern Pacific = 92% (MSM);

  • South and Southeast Asia = 65% (Hetero, IDU);
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  • East Asia and Western Pacific = 87% (MSM, Hetero, IDU);

  • Latin America = 75% (MSM, IDU, Hetero);

  • North America = 80% (MSM, IDU, Hetero);

  • Western Europe = 75% (MSM, IDU);

  • Caribbean = 60% (MSM, Hetero);

  • North Africa and the Middle East = 80% (Hetero, IDU);

  • Eastern Europe and Central Asia = 77% (IDU); and

  • Sub-Saharan Africa = 45% (Hetero).

• Since the beginning of the epidemic, AIDS has been responsible for more than 9 million deaths among men.

• All over the world, men tend to have more extramarital partners, thereby increasing their own and their primary partners' risk of contracting HIV.

• Over 70% of HIV infections worldwide occur through sex between men and women.

• 5-10% of HIV infections worldwide occur through sex between men.

• 5% or so of HIV infections worldwide occur among people who inject drugs, four-fifths of whom are men.

* Modes of transmission: Hetero (heterosexual transmission), IDU (transmission through injecting drug use), MSM (sexual transmission among men who have sex with men).