HIV in the UK statistics

Living with HIV

In 2014, UNAIDS established the global 90-90-90 targets.

• The aim was for 90% of all people living with HIV to be diagnosed, 90% of those diagnosed to receive HIV treatment and 90% of those receiving treatment to achieve viral suppression, by 2020.  
• If taken as percentages of all people living with HIV, the 90-90-90 targets translate as 90% of all people living with HIV to be diagnosed, 81% of all people living with HIV are on treatment and 73% of all people living with HIV are virally suppressed.
  
  

In 2019, it was estimated that there are 105,200 people living with HIV in the UK. 

• 94% of these people are diagnosed, and therefore know that they have HIV. This means that around 1 in 16 people living with HIV in the UK do not know that they have the virus.
• 98% of people diagnosed with HIV in the UK are engaged in care and on treatment, and 97% of those engaged and on treatment are virally suppressed which means they can’t pass the virus on. Of all the people living with HIV in the UK, 89% are virally suppressed. 
• There is a lack of clarity over the number of people lost to care.  
  
  

The means that the UK has met (and exceeded) the UNAIDs 90-90-90 targets for 2020.

Accessing care

• A total of 102,168 people received HIV care in 2022 in the UK.
• The number of people accessing specialist care for HIV has reached its highest number ever, 
•  From 2013 to 2022, the number of people accessing HIV care increased by almost 27%.

Gender

• In 2022, over two-thirds of the people accessing HIV care in the UK were men, with women representing 31.7% of all people accessing care.  

Ethnicity 

Of all the people whose ethnicities are known and who received specialist HIV care in the UK in 2022:

• 53.7% were white of the people receiving HIV specialist care in the UK in 2022 were white.
• 30.2% were Black African. 
• 4.6% were Asian, 2.9% Black Caribbean and 2.3 "Black other"
• 6.3% were of "Other" ethnicity. 

Age

As people can live longer, healthier lives with HIV we have seen the number of people with an HIV diagnosis who are aged 50 and over increase in recent years. 

• Almost half (49.8%) of people accessing HIV care in 2022 were aged 50 or over, and 8.9% were 65 or over. 
• Over time, the number of people living with HIV aged 50-64 has increased and this group is now bigger than the 35-49 years age group. This shows how effective treatment is helping people to live longer with HIV.  

UK distribution

• 92.4% of the people receiving HIV care in the UK in 2022 did so in England.
• 36.5% of people receiving HIV care across the UK 2022 did so in London. 
• Data are not available for Northern Ireland in 2022. 

Mode of transmission

• Of the 102,168 people accessing HIV care in the UK in 2022, the probable exposure is known for 95.9% of these.
• Of the people for whom probable exposure is known, 95.4% of people accessing HIV care in 2022 acquired HIV through sexual transmission. The number of people who acquired HIV through sex between men and women(48.6%) is slightly higher than the proportion of people who acquired HIV through sex between men (46.9%)
• Much smaller proportions of people accessing HIV care in 2022 acquired HIV through injecting drug use or vertical transmission (1.8% each). Vertical transmission occurs when HIV is passed from mother to baby, either in the womb, during birth or via breastfeeding.

Late diagnosis 

Headlines

• Someone is considered to have been diagnosed with HIV late if they have a CD4 count below 350 cells/mm³ within three months (91 day) of diagnosis.
  
  
• People who are diagnosed late have been living with undiagnosed HIV for around three to five years, on average.
  
  
• Late diagnosis increases the risk of ill-health, early death and onward transmission of HIV.
  
  
• In 2022, 3,292 individuals diagnosed with HIV had their CD4 count identified within 91 days of diagnosis. 1,136 (34.5%) of these individuals were diagnosed at a late stage of HIV infection.

Probable HIV exposures (England only)

• Of the individuals in England for whom CD4 count at diagnosis was measured within the first 91 days, the highest proportion of late diagnoses was seen through injecting drug use. 48% of cases of this nature were diagnosed late. This was closely followed by men who acquired HIV through sex with women, among whom 46% of cases were diagnosed late.
• Sex between men saw the lowest proportion of late diagonoses among the exposure groups, with 29% of cases* of this nature diagnosed late. Among those for whom exposure group is unknown but who knew their CD4 count at diagnosis, 33% of cases were diagnosed late, and for those who had and "other" HIV exposure, 32% of cases were diagnosed late.

Age at diagnosis (England only)

• In general, older people are more likely to be diagnosed late in England.
• 25% of people aged 15-24 were diagnosed late, out of those who learned their CD4 count within their first 91 days of diagnosis, compared to 52% of those aged 50-64 and 48% of those aged 65 and older.

Ethnicity (England only)

• Of the individuals in England for whom CD4 count at diagnosis was measured within the first 91 days, the highest proportion of late diagnoses was seen among white (43%) and Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi (43%) ethnicities.
• 40% of people whose ethnicity was unknown were diagnosed late, followed by 38% of ‘any other’ ethnicity group.
• 38% of Black Caribbean individuals in England were diagnosed late, after knowing their CD4 count in the first 91 days.

UK distribution 

• Geographically, the highest rates of late diagnosis in 2022 in the UK, among those who knew their CD4 count in the first three months, were in Wales (42%), followed by the West Midlands (39%), Scotland (38%) and the South East of England (37%). The lowest rate was in Yorkshire and the Humber (30%).
• Data are not available for Northern Ireland for 2022

Age (England only)

• 44.2% of MSM newly diagnosed with HIV in England in 2022 were aged between 25 and 34.  
• All age groups have seen an overall decrease in diagnoses since 2015.

Ethnicity (England only)

• 51.9% of MSM diagnosed with HIV in 2022 in England were white.
• The second-largest ethnic group among newly diagnosed MSM in 2022 was Asian, with 17.1% of new cases, although 13% of new cases were of another or mixed ethnicity, and the ethnicity of 10% of new cases was unknown.

UK distribution

• The highest number of new cases in MSM attributed to sex between men in 2022 were diagnosed in London, with 438 new cases. The North West of England recorded 142 new cases and the South East of England recorded 140.
• The fewest new cases of this kind in 2022 were recorded in Wales, with 32 new cases attributed to sex between men.