Canada HIV & AIDS Statistics by Year and Age

Positive HIV tests and AIDS diagnoses by year

† AIDS reporting began in 1979; HIV reporting began in 1985; annual data are not available for positive HIV test reports prior to 1995 for all jurisdictions.

Trends in HIV diagnoses

The annual number of reported positive HIV test results increased between 2000 and 2004, following a steady decline since 1995. This rise may be partly due to changes in immigration policies that were introduced in 2002. HIV tests are now part of the routine assessment for immigrants and most provinces and territories include these results in their reports.

Women have accounted for around a quarter of adult HIV diagnoses reported with known gender in each year since 2000. This proportion has more than doubled from 12% in the period 1985-97.

When interpreting HIV test reports, it is important to note that there may be a "reporting delay" between the time when a person tests positive for HIV and the time when the report is received by the Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control (CIDPC). The statistics for recent years are likely to rise as more reports are received. Even if adjustment is made for reporting delays, the statistics still include only those people who have come forward to be tested for HIV. Willingness to be tested may vary between different groups of people.

Trends in AIDS diagnoses

Since the beginning of the epidemic in the early 1980s, there have been 20,669 AIDS diagnoses reported to CIDPC. The number of annual diagnoses peaked at 1,827 in 1993 and has since declined to fewer than 400. A major factor in the initial, dramatic decrease in cases was the delayed or prevented onset of AIDS due to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Such treatment has become widespread since 1996.

After steep falls between 1995 and 1997, a more gradual decline in the number of diagnoses continued until 2000. In the analysis of recent years, allowance should be made for delays in reporting, and for the fact that Quebec has not reported AIDS data since June 2003.

Females accounted for 7% of AIDS cases reported with known gender in the period 1979-94; in 2005 that proportion was 23%.

AIDS cases by ethnic status and year of diagnosis

The proportion of AIDS cases with known ethnicity reported among white people declined from 91% in 1988 to 62% in 2005. Over the same period, there were steep increases in the proportions attributed to aboriginal and black people. These two groups are now highly overrepresented.

In the 2001 census, aboriginal and black people accounted for 3.3% and 2.2% of Canada's population respectively. In the same year, these groups respectively reported 6.4% and 15.2% of AIDS cases with known ethnicity. In 2005, these proportions were 15.9% for aboriginal people and 11.0% for black people. However it should be noted that in many cases ethnicity is not reported.

The relative size of exposure categories varies significantly between ethnic groups. Injecting drug use is a major route of transmission of infection in aboriginal communities. Among black people, the vast majority of infections are probably acquired through heterosexual contact. In both groups, women account for nearly half of all positive HIV test reports.

Positive HIV tests and AIDS diagnoses by age group, until end of 2006

* Includes reports for which gender was not reported or was reported as transgender

** Includes 2 AIDS cases and 4,645 positive HIV test reports for which age group was not reported

In recent years the most notable trend has been the increase in diagnoses among young women. Prior to 1996, females comprised 14% of HIV diagnoses in the age group 15-29, whereas in 2005 this proportion was 35%.

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