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The latest statistics on AIDS & HIV in the UK were published in March 2009 by the Health Protection Agency.¹

The tables below show that 44% of HIV diagnoses have been among men who have sex with men. However, the number of heterosexually acquired HIV infections diagnosed in the UK has risen dramatically over the last 15 years. In 1999, for the first time, the rate of heterosexually acquired HIV diagnoses overtook the rate of diagnoses in men who have sex with men. In 2008, heterosexually acquired infections accounted for 58% of new HIV diagnoses with known transmission route (the peak was 65% in 2003).

Injecting drug use accounts for around 23% of all HIV diagnoses ever made in Scotland, but only 4% of those made in England. Most of the diagnoses among Scottish injecting drug users were made in the 1980s.

People aged 20-44 years old account for 81% of all HIV diagnoses. In the heterosexual transmission group, women and girls have on average been diagnosed at a younger age than men and boys - 41% of females were under 30 years old compared to 21% of males.

On this page the term 'transmission route' refers to the most probable route of transmission of HIV infection.

See more UK statistics by race, age and gender

UK HIV diagnoses by transmission route, all years until the end of 2008

How HIV infection was probably acquired	Male	Female	Total*	%
Sex between men†	44,537	0	44,537	44%
Sex between men and women	17,267	27,343	44,617	43%
Injecting drug use	3,491	1,506	4,997	5%
Mother to infant	858	904	1,765	2%
Blood/tissue products	1,599	304	1,906	2%
Other/undetermined	2,904	1,578	4,511	4%
Total	70,656	31,635	102,333	100%
Percentage total	69%	31%	100%

* Includes individuals with sex not stated on the report; † Includes 821 men who also reported injecting drug use

HIV diagnoses by country and transmission route, all years until the end of 2008

How HIV infection was probably acquired	Country of diagnosis
	England	Wales	N. Ireland	Scotland	UK total	Channel Isles/ Isle of Man
Sex between men*	41,430	772	300	2,035	44,537	37
Sex between men and women	41,802	587	282	1,939	44,610	35
Injecting drug use	3,645	53	13	1,289	1,997	12
Mother to infant	1,609	17	5	121	1,762	2
Blood/tissue products	1,692	59	21	128	1,903	3
Other/undetermined	4,246	112	12	101	4,482	14
Total†	94,424	1,600	633	5,613	99,291	103
Percentage total	92%	2%	1%	6%	100%	0%

* Includes 821 men who had also injected drugs; † Includes 41 individuals with sex not stated on the report

UK HIV diagnoses by transmission route and age group at diagnosis, all years until the end of 2008

Age group (years)	Men who have sex with men		Men infected through heterosexual contact		Women infected through heterosexual contact		Injecting drug users		Total*
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
<20	615	1	112	1	796	3	228	5	4,207	4
20-24	4,576	11	864	5	3,531	13	878	18	10,391	10
25-29	8,887	21	2,571	15	6,861	25	1,275	26	20,455	20
30-34	9,776	24	4,004	23	6,749	25	1,204	24	22,758	22
35-39	8,208	20	3,714	22	4,464	16	786	16	18,160	18
40-44	5,503	13	2,477	14	2,346	9	378	8	11,463	11
45-49	3,244	8	1,479	9	1,232	5	136	3	6,618	6
50-54	1,762	4	930	6	649	2	47	1	3,730	4
55-59	963	2	541	3	385	1	14	0	2,126	2
60+	858	2	566	3	314	1	10	0	2,052	2
Unknown	145	0	8	0	15	0	41	1	373	0
Total	41,536	100	17,266	100	27,342	100	4,997	100	102,333	100

* Includes people infected through undetermined routes as well as those infected through other routes (including blood/tissue products and mother-to-child transmission)

UK HIV diagnoses by transmission route, 1993-2008

Year of HIV diagnosis	How HIV infection was probably acquired
	Sex between men*	Sex between men and women	Mother to infant†	Injecting drug use	Blood/tissue products‡
1992 or earlier	13,634	2,887	183	2,366	1,508
1993	1,692	773	70	223	22
1994	1,667	808	68	188	21
1995	1,673	881	57	215	24
1996	1,670	889	63	198	21
1997	1,466	1,028	80	178	31
1998	1,419	1,187	92	147	11
1999	1,431	1,515	87	123	25
2000	1,581	2,062	103	118	27
2001	1,798	2,966	105	142	23
2002	1,949	3,948	119	126	38
2003	2,140	4,713	151	173	38
2004	2,419	4,889	155	143	28
2005	2,678	4,859	125	183	26
2006	2,589	4,402	128	189	37
2007	2,719	3,812	111	164	13
2008	2,012	2,998	69	121	13
Total	44,537	44,617	1,765	4,997	1,906

* Includes 821 men who had also injected drugs; † Includes infants born outside but diagnosed in the UK; ‡ All infections within this category diagnosed since 2002 were acquired outside the UK

Notes

Numbers, particularly for recent years, will rise as further reports are received.

Due to rounding to the nearest whole number, percentage columns may appear not to total 100%.

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AVERT.org has more about:

• Global HIV and AIDS statistics
• UK Statistics summary
• UK statistics by race, age and gender
• HIV and AIDS prevention