The facts on HIV

People living with HIV — globally

UNAIDS · 2024

40.8M

people were living with HIV worldwide in 2024.

range: 37.0M – 45.6M

53%

of people living with HIV are women and girls.

all ages, 2024

5.3M

people living with HIV do not yet know their status.

UNAIDS estimate, 2024

Source: UNAIDS, Global HIV & AIDS statistics — fact sheet, unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet.

The arc of the epidemic

UNAIDS · since 1996 peak

1.3M

new HIV infections in 2024 — a 40% decline since 2010, and 61% below the 1996 peak.

range: 1.0M – 1.7M

630K

AIDS-related deaths in 2024 — down 54% from 2010, and 70% from the 2004 peak.

range: 490K – 820K

120K

new HIV infections among children — a 62% drop since 2010.

UNAIDS, 2024

Source: UNAIDS, Global HIV & AIDS statistics — fact sheet, 2024 data.

Treatment and U=U

UNAIDS · 2024

31.6M

people are on antiretroviral therapy — 77% of all people living with HIV.

range: 27.8M – 32.9M

94%

of people on treatment achieve a sustained undetectable viral load.

viral suppression, 2024

documented sexual transmissions from undetectable people in the landmark PARTNER & Opposites Attract studies.

PARTNER1 / PARTNER2 / Opposites Attract

Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U). When someone living with HIV is on effective treatment and maintains an undetectable viral load, they cannot sexually transmit the virus to a partner. This isn't an estimate — the PARTNER and Opposites Attract studies followed couples through tens of thousands of condomless sex acts and recorded zero linked transmissions. The consensus of the CDC, NIH, and the World Health Organization is the same: undetectable equals untransmittable.

Sources: UNAIDS 2024 data; Rodger et al., The Lancet (2019); CDC, HIV Treatment as Prevention, cdc.gov/hiv.

The picture in the United States

CDC · most recent surveillance year

~1.2M

people in the U.S. are living with HIV; most are on treatment, most are undetectable.

CDC HIV Surveillance Report

~13%

of people living with HIV in the U.S. do not yet know their status.

CDC estimate

~37K

new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. each year — and falling in most populations.

CDC, recent reporting year

Source: U.S. CDC, HIV Surveillance Report, cdc.gov/hiv/library/reports. Figures are rounded and updated as new annual editions are published.

Why this matters for 448

448 sits at the intersection of all of these numbers — a community in which most members are living with HIV, most are on effective treatment, and most are virally suppressed. The science says they cannot transmit the virus to a sexual partner. The data says that this community is large, increasingly healthy, and woefully under-served by the platforms it shows up on.

Every profile on 448 carries the option to surface U=U context — current treatment, last test date, the way the science actually reads — so the hardest conversation isn't the first one. None of that information is ever shared without the member's explicit consent. None of it is ever used to filter who shows up in anyone else's community feed.

Living with HIV — what we recommend reading

UNAIDS Global Fact Sheet — the annual global epidemic snapshot.
CDC: HIV — U.S. surveillance, prevention, and treatment guidance.
CDC: HIV Treatment as Prevention — plain-English explanation of U=U.
WHO: HIV — the World Health Organization's HIV resource hub.
Prevention Access Campaign — the U=U coalition that helped move "undetectable = untransmittable" from research finding to public-health consensus.

How we keep this page honest

UNAIDS publishes its global fact sheet annually, usually mid-year. The CDC's HIV Surveillance Report lands once a year as well. We update this page when each new edition is released and note the data year prominently — so you always know whether you're reading current numbers.

Spot something out of date? Email us and we'll fix it.