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Australian Statistics and Trends for HIV/AIDS

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Historically, Australia has had one of the lowest overall population rates of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses among similarly developed countries.

By 31 December 2008 there have been 28,330 diagnoses of HIV infection, 10,348 diagnoses of AIDS and 6,765 deaths following AIDS had occurred in Australia. An estimated 17,444 people including 12,053 people aged 15-49 years were living with HIV infection in Australia at the end of 2008.


The annual number of new HIV diagnoses in Australia has plateaued over the past three years at around 1,000 cases, following a steady increase from 718 in 1999.

Trends in newly diagnosed HIV infection differed across State and Territory health jurisdictions. New South Wales recorded a stable population rate of diagnoses at between 5.7-5.9 per 100,000 population in 1999 – 2008 whereas the rate steadily increased in Queensland from 3.4 in 1999 to 4.7 in 2008. In Victoria, the rate increased from 2.8 in 1999 to 5.5 in 2006 and was stable at 5.3 in 2007 – 2008.

Around 11% of cases of HIV infection newly diagnosed in Australia in 2008 had been previously diagnosed overseas.

The annual number of diagnoses of newly acquired HIV infection increased from 171 in 1999 to 308 in 2006 and declined to 281 in 2008.

HIV continued to be transmitted primarily through sexual contact between men.

There was a similar per capita rate of HIV diagnosis in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous populations. Higher proportions of cases were attributed to heterosexual contact and injecting drug use in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.

The per capita rate of HIV diagnosis in Australia in 2005 – 2008 was at more than eight times higher among people born in countries in sub-Saharan Africa than among Australian born people. In the past five years, 59% of cases of HIV infection attributed to heterosexual contact were in people who were from a high HIV prevalence country or whose sexual partner was from a high prevalence country.

Source: The National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (2009) HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis and Sexually Transmissible Infections in Australia: Annual Surveillance Report.

http://www.nchecr.unsw.edu.au/NCHECRweb.nsf/page/Annual%20Surveillance%20Reports