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Share of the population living with HIV

aged 15-49, central estimate
See all data and research on:
HIV/AIDS
Data sources and processing
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Data sources and processingRelated articlesRelated charts
Insights about this dataRelated articlesRelated charts

What you should know about this indicator

Known as "HIV prevalence", it is estimated by dividing the number of people in a given group who tested positive for HIV by all the people that were tested.

Share of the population living with HIV
aged 15-49, central estimate
Share of people aged 15-49 who test positive for HIV at a given time. This is the central estimate.
Source
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
December 15, 2025
Date range
1990–2024
Unit
%

Related research and writing

A dark blue background with a lighter blue world map superimposed over it. Yellow text that says HIV/AIDS by Our World in Data

HIV / AIDS

Max Roser and Hannah Ritchie

Explore charts that include this data

What you should know about this indicator

Known as "HIV prevalence", it is estimated by dividing the number of people in a given group who tested positive for HIV by all the people that were tested.

Share of the population living with HIV
aged 15-49, central estimate
Share of people aged 15-49 who test positive for HIV at a given time. This is the central estimate.
Source
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Last updated
December 15, 2025
Date range
1990–2024
Unit
%

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS – Global AIDS Update, Epidemic Indicators

UNAIDS leads the world's most extensive data collection on HIV epidemiology, programme coverage and finance and publishes the most authoritative and up-to-date information on the HIV epidemic.

In some cases there is no data for some country and year. This can be a result of very small epidemics among women in the reproductive age which makes estimation of the mother to child transmission very unstable. Another reason for missing data is that relevant authorities may have asked UNAIDS not to share their estimates.

A historic funding crisis is threatening to unravel decades of progress unless countries can make radical shifts to HIV programming and funding. The report highlights the impact that the sudden, large-scale funding cuts from international donors are having on countries most affected by HIV. Yet it also showcases some inspiring examples of resilience, with countries and communities stepping up in the face of adversity to protect the gains made and drive the HIV response forward.

Retrieved on
December 15, 2025
Retrieved from
https://aidsinfo.unaids.org/dataset
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
AIDS, crisis and the power to transform: UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2025. Geneva: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS; 2025. Full report: https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/documents/2025/2025-global-aids-update-summary

UNAIDS leads the world's most extensive data collection on HIV epidemiology, programme coverage and finance and publishes the most authoritative and up-to-date information on the HIV epidemic.

In some cases there is no data for some country and year. This can be a result of very small epidemics among women in the reproductive age which makes estimation of the mother to child transmission very unstable. Another reason for missing data is that relevant authorities may have asked UNAIDS not to share their estimates.

A historic funding crisis is threatening to unravel decades of progress unless countries can make radical shifts to HIV programming and funding. The report highlights the impact that the sudden, large-scale funding cuts from international donors are having on countries most affected by HIV. Yet it also showcases some inspiring examples of resilience, with countries and communities stepping up in the face of adversity to protect the gains made and drive the HIV response forward.

Retrieved on
December 15, 2025
Retrieved from
https://aidsinfo.unaids.org/dataset
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
AIDS, crisis and the power to transform: UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2025. Geneva: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS; 2025. Full report: https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/documents/2025/2025-global-aids-update-summary

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

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  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Share of the population living with HIV”, part of the following publication: Max Roser and Hannah Ritchie (2023) - “HIV / AIDS”. Data adapted from Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20251217-023707/grapher/share-of-the-population-infected-with-hiv.html [online resource] (archived on December 17, 2025).

How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “Share of the population living with HIV – aged 15-49, central estimate” [dataset]. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, “Global AIDS Update, Epidemic Indicators” [original data]. Retrieved December 17, 2025 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20251217-023707/grapher/share-of-the-population-infected-with-hiv.html (archived on December 17, 2025).