USA HIV & AIDS Cases by Deaths and Year

More than half a million people with AIDS have died in the USA. There have been at least 37,000 new AIDS diagnoses each year since 1989.

During the 1980s, there were rapid increases in the number of AIDS cases and deaths of people with AIDS. Cases peaked in 1993 when the case definition of AIDS was broadened, and then declined. The most dramatic drops in both cases and deaths began in 1996, with the widespread use of combination antiretroviral therapy.

In recent years the annual number of AIDS diagnoses has remained relatively stable, with an estimated 37,852 reports in 2006. In total, an estimated 1,014,797 people have been diagnosed with AIDS in the USA.

The number of deaths among people with AIDS has also remained relatively constant since 1999, and was estimated at 14,627 in 2006. Since the beginning of the epidemic, an estimated 565,927 people with AIDS have died in the USA.

AIDS diagnoses and deaths of persons with AIDS in the USA by year

Year	Cases diagnosed during the year	Deaths occurring during the year
Before 1981	100	30
1981	339	130
1982	1,201	466
1983	3,153	1,511
1984	6,368	3,526
1985	12,044	6,996
1986	19,404	12,183
1987	29,105	16,488
1988	36,126	21,244
1989	43,499	28,054
1990	49,546	31,836
1991	60,573	37,106
1992	79,657	41,849
1993	79,879	45,733
1994	73,086	50,657
1995	69,984	51,414
1996	61,124	38,074
1997	49,379	21,846
1998*	43,225	19,005
1999*	41,356	18,491
2000*	39,513	17,139
2001*	39,262	17,726
2002*	39,250	17,628
2003*	39,690	17,283
2004*	38,807	16,982
2005*	37,662	16,865
2006*	37,852	14,627
Total**	1,014,797	565,927

* All figures starting from 1998 are estimates - see below

** Estimated cumulative total - see below

For HIV and AIDS statistics arranged by year as well as other characteristics, see our pages of USA statistics by age and USA statistics by race/ethnicity.

Notes

The latest statistics on AIDS & HIV in the USA were published in March 2008 by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The next data are due November 2008.

These statistics include all 50 states of the USA, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Pacific Islands and the US Virgin Islands.

The above table is intended to communicate the scale of the AIDS epidemic in the USA and to illustrate trends. It should be noted that up until 1998 the table shows reported cases and deaths, whereas the recent data are estimates.

Estimated figures are predictions of how many reports will eventually be received for each year. They are calculated by adjusting the number of reports already received to cancel out the effect of reporting delays, because some cases take months or even years to process. No adjustment is made for incomplete reporting. The CDC recommends the use of these estimates for interpreting trends. It may be assumed that almost all cases prior to 1998 have been reported, so no adjustment is required for those years. See our understanding statistics page for more about reporting delays.

The cumulative totals given in the table have also been adjusted for reporting delays.

As of December 2006, a total of 992,865 diagnoses of AIDS have been reported in the USA (unadjusted). There have been 555,760 reported deaths of persons with AIDS through December 2006 (unadjusted).¹