At the end of 2005, as many as 41 million people globally were living with HIV. In many parts of the developing world, the majority of new infections occur in young adults, with young women especially vulnerable. About one-third of those currently living with HIV/AIDS are aged 15-24. Most of them do not know they carry the virus. Many millions more know nothing or too little about HIV to protect themselves against it. Year-end reports from UNAID and the World Health Organization provide a global perspective on the epidemic: .....

Eastern Europe-especially the Russian Federation-continues to experience the fastest-growing epidemic in the world, with the number of people living with AIDS increasing twentyfold in less than 10 years to an estimated 1.6 million.

In Asia and the Pacific, an estimated 8.3 million people are now living with HIVAIDS. The large majority of these individuals either live in China (1 million) or India (over 5 million).

North America -- Since 1994, an estimated 40,000 people have been infected with HIV each year in the United States and 1.2 million are living with the disease; of that number, one-quarter are unaware they are infected. However, the epidemic is now disproportionately lodged among African Americans and is affecting much greater numbers of women who account for up to 72% of new HIV diagnoses.

With almost 680,000 people living with HIV, Western Europeans generally have access to antiretroviral treatment and, as a result, AIDS deaths have stayed low. However, in some countries, a large share of HIV infections remain undiagnosed (1/3 of those in the UK) and there is evidence of developing antiretroviral drug resistance.

AIDS killed 2.4 million African people in 2005. The estimated 3.2 million new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa in the past year mean that 25.8 million Africans now live with the virus. . Almost two-thirds of the global number of people living with HIV are in these countries as are more than 75% of all women with HIV.

In the Middle East and North Africa, the number of people living with HIV is over 510,000 with 67,000 newly infected in 2005.

An estimated 1.8 million adults and children are living with HIV in Latin America with Brazil accounting for more than one-third of that number.

The Caribbean is the second-most affected region in the world. Among adults aged 15-44, AIDS is the leading cause of death.