Copyright © AVERT

Australia HIV & AIDS Statistics Summary

An estimated 15,670 people were living with HIV in Australia at the end of 2006.

From the start of the epidemic until the end of June 2007, there have been 23,360 diagnoses of HIV (after adjusting for multiple reports) and 10,097 diagnoses of AIDS. Australia has recorded 6,709 deaths of people with AIDS.

In 2006, AIDS incidence in Australia (1.3 per 100,000 population) was similar to that in the UK and Canada (1.4 and 1.0 respectively), and much lower that in the United States (13.9 in 2005).

Estimated* HIV and AIDS diagnoses by year

Year	HIV			AIDS
	Male	Female	Total**	Male	Female	Total**
1987 and earlier	6,846	236	7,116	762	35	797
1988	1,221	73	1,297	520	15	536
1989	1,295	74	1,371	599	13	614
1990	1,283	85	1,276	655	17	674
1991	1,078	80	1,162	775	26	804
1992	1,051	88	1,140	752	37	791
1993	912	67	986	799	41	845
1994	839	85	926	904	45	953
1995	818	71	890	773	35	811
1996	811	74	887	637	33	670
1997	637	83	721	362	32	395
1998	550	94	645	305	23	329
1999	610	73	685	192	22	215
2000	572	82	658	239	24	263
2001	593	95	690	189	23	213
2002	731	90	825	221	19	242
2003	728	84	813	225	16	242
2004	724	126	851	183	22	207
2005	835	92	928	216	27	243
2006	817	143	963	239	19	261
Total	21,482	1,878	23,428	9,566	524	10,125

* HIV data are adjusted for multiple reporting; AIDS figures for 2003-2005 are adjusted for reporting delays

** Includes people whose sex was reported as transgender

The annual number of HIV diagnoses in Australia peaked in 1987. There followed twelve years of decline, after which the rate of diagnoses grew again to reach 963 in 2006 (after adjusting for multiple reporting).

The annual number of AIDS diagnoses in Australia peaked in 1994 at 953 cases, and then declined rapidly to 215 in 1999. The fall since 1996 was largely due to the introduction of effective combination antiretroviral therapy, which delays progression from HIV infection to AIDS. The number of AIDS diagnoses has since remained relatively stable.

Exposure categories

Transmission in Australia continues to occur primarily through sexual contact between men. Around 61% of people newly diagnosed with HIV infection in the period 2002-2006 were men with a history of homosexual contact; 19% were probably exposed through heterosexual contact; 6% were injecting drug users; and a further 7% were men with a history of both injecting drug use and homosexual contact. In 7% of cases the route of HIV transmission was categorised as other or undetermined.

HIV and AIDS cases by state/territory, until end of June 2007

State/Territory	HIV			AIDS
	Male	Female	Total*	Male	Female	Total**
Australian Capital Territory	260	32	292	92	10	102
New South Wales	13,658	897	14,814	5,435	251	5,704
Northern Territory	135	23	158	45	4	49
Queensland	2,815	287	3,111	1,043	73	1,118
South Australia	965	104	1,070	409	32	442
Tasmania	110	12	122	53	4	57
Victoria	5,380	379	5,803	2,025	112	2,150
Western Australia	1,244	215	1,466	432	41	475
Total	24,567	1,949	26,836	9,534	527	10,097

* Includes people whose sex was not reported or was reported as transgender

** Includes people whose sex was reported as transgender

Relative to population size, New South Wales has had by far the highest rate of HIV diagnoses: 213.9 per 100,000 people. Victoria has had the second highest rate of 110.4 and Capital Territory is not far behind at 87.1. Rates have been similar across Queensland (73.4), Northern Territory (72.9), Western Australia (69.1) and South Australia (66.0). Tasmania has had the lowest rate of 24.1 HIV diagnoses per 100,000 population.

During the twelve month period up to June 2007, the rates of AIDS diagnoses per million population were highest in Victoria (11.2) and Northern Territory (9.7), and lowest in Tasmania and Australian Capital Territory (no reported cases).

Ethnicity and country of origin

Overall rates of HIV and AIDS diagnoses per capita have differed little between indigenous and non-indigenous people. However, there are differences in the relative importance of HIV transmission routes.

Among indigenous people diagnosed with HIV in 2002-2006, a similar number of infections were reported as being due to heterosexual contact (34%) and male homosexual contact (37%). Indigenous cases also differed in that a higher proportion of infections were attributed to injecting drug use (18% among indigenous cases versus 3% for non-indigenous cases), and a higher proportion were among women (30% versus 11%).

People born in Australia accounted for 65% of AIDS diagnoses in Australia in the period 2002-2006.

AIDS cases and deaths following AIDS, by sex and age, until end of June 2007

Age	Cases			Deaths
	Male	Female	Total*	Male	Female	Total*
0-12	30	21	51	22	12	34
13-19	28	5	33	15	3	18
20-29	1,446	123	1,584	692	50	753
30-39	3,890	195	4,097	2,479	105	2,593
40-49	2,762	99	2,866	2,064	59	2,125
50-59	1,018	45	1,067	814	33	848
60+	360	39	399	301	37	338
Total	9,534	527	10,097	6,387	299	6,709

* Includes people whose sex was reported as transgender

In Australia, further evidence of the benefits of improved therapy has come from the substantial improvement in length of life following the diagnosis of AIDS. Median survival time has increased from 19 months for cases diagnosed prior to 1996 to 34 months for cases diagnosed in 2003.

What's this?

WHERE NEXT ?

AVERT.org has more about:

• HIV and AIDS statistics
• Worldwide statistics
• Understanding HIV and AIDS statistics
• HIV and AIDS in women and children