Yes, HIV remains common. An estimated 40.8 million people worldwide were living with HIV at the end of 2024, and 1.3 million people acquired the virus that year alone. In the United States, over 1.1 million people aged 13 and older had a diagnosed HIV infection in 2023, with roughly 39,200 new diagnoses that year. The epidemic has changed dramatically since the 1980s and 1990s, but it has not gone away.
How Many People Have HIV Today
Globally, HIV is one of the most widespread infectious diseases. The 40.8 million figure represents people currently living with the virus, not cumulative cases over time. New infections have dropped significantly from their peak in the late 1990s, but 1.3 million new infections per year means the virus is still spreading at a substantial rate, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Southeast Asia, and among specific populations everywhere.
In the U.S., about 39,200 people received an HIV diagnosis in 2023. That number has been declining gradually over the past decade, but the drop is uneven. Black and African American people and Hispanic and Latino people accounted for roughly 70% of estimated new infections in 2022, despite making up a much smaller share of the overall population. Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men remain the group most affected by new diagnoses. Geography matters too: the Southern U.S. consistently sees a disproportionate share of new cases.
Why HIV Hasn’t Disappeared
Several factors keep HIV circulating. First, many people don’t know they have it. Globally, only 77% of people living with HIV were aware of their status in 2023. That means nearly one in four people with the virus didn’t know they were infected, which makes them more likely to transmit it unknowingly. Second, access to prevention tools like PrEP (a daily or injectable medication that prevents infection) and treatment varies enormously by country, income level, and community. Third, stigma still discourages testing and treatment in many settings.
There’s also a lag effect. Even as new infections decline, the total number of people living with HIV keeps growing because effective treatment now keeps people alive for decades. That’s a success story, but it means the virus stays present in the population.
How Treatment Has Changed the Picture
The reason HIV can feel like “old news” to many people is that treatment has transformed the disease. With early diagnosis and prompt start of antiretroviral therapy, a person with HIV can now expect a life span comparable to someone without the virus. That’s a radical shift from the early epidemic, when an HIV diagnosis was essentially a death sentence.
Treatment also prevents transmission. When someone with HIV takes medication consistently and their viral load drops to undetectable levels on lab tests, they cannot pass the virus to sexual partners. This concept, known as Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U), is backed by large clinical studies and endorsed by every major public health agency. It’s one of the most powerful tools in the response to HIV, both medically and in reducing the fear and stigma around the diagnosis.
The challenge is getting everyone to that point. Globally, only 72% of people living with HIV were on treatment in 2023, and just 67% had achieved viral suppression. Those numbers represent enormous progress compared to a decade ago, but they also mean about a third of people with HIV worldwide are not yet virally suppressed, leaving room for continued transmission.
Prevention Tools That Work
PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99% when taken as prescribed. For people who inject drugs, PrEP pills lower risk by at least 74%. PrEP is available as a daily pill or as an injection given every two months, making it more practical for people who find daily pills hard to maintain. Despite its effectiveness, PrEP uptake remains low relative to the number of people who could benefit from it, particularly among Black and Latino communities and in the Southern U.S.
Condoms, of course, still work. And the U=U principle means that a person on effective treatment is not a transmission risk to their sexual partners, which itself functions as prevention.
Who Should Get Tested
The CDC recommends that everyone between ages 13 and 64 get tested for HIV at least once as part of routine healthcare. If you have ongoing risk factors, annual testing is recommended. For sexually active gay and bisexual men, testing every 3 to 6 months is often appropriate. Other groups that benefit from regular screening include people who inject drugs, people with a sexual partner who has HIV, people being treated for another sexually transmitted infection, and anyone whose sexual partners have had other partners since their last test.
HIV testing is simple, fast, and widely available. Many clinics offer rapid tests with results in under 30 minutes, and home test kits are sold over the counter. Early detection matters because starting treatment quickly protects your health and eliminates the risk of passing the virus to others.
The Bottom Line on How Common HIV Is
HIV is far less deadly than it was 30 years ago, and new infections are trending downward in many countries. But “less common than before” is not the same as uncommon. Over 40 million people are living with HIV globally, more than a million in the U.S. alone. Tens of thousands of Americans are diagnosed each year, with sharp disparities by race, sexual orientation, and region. The tools to end the epidemic exist: effective treatment, PrEP, and testing. The gap between what’s possible and what’s actually happening is what keeps HIV common today.