HIV in Canada - People living with HIV and new HIV infections, 2020
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Organization: Public Health Agency of Canada
Published: 2022
At the end of 2020, an estimated 62,790 people were living with HIV (PLHIV) in Canada
Map of Canada with provincial/regional estimates of PLHIV
| Province / Region | ||
|---|---|---|
| BC | Point Estimate | 9,637 |
| Range | 8,200-11,000 | |
| AB | Point Estimate | 5,259 |
| Range | 4,500-6,000 | |
| SK | Point Estimate | 3,231 |
| Range | 2,700-3,700 | |
| MB | Point Estimate | 2,026 |
| Range | 1,600-2,400 | |
| ON | Point Estimate | 23,380 |
| Range | 20,000-26,500 | |
| QC | Point Estimate | 17,726 |
| Range | 15,000-20,300 | |
| Atlantic | Point Estimate | 1,458 |
| Range | 1,100-1,800 | |
| Territories | Point Estimate | 73 |
| Range | 50-110 |
Among the PLHIV, approximately:
- 1 in 4 were female
- 1 in 2 were gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM)
- 1 in 3 were heterosexual
- 1 in 8 were people who inject drugs (PWID)Footnote 1
- 1 in 10 were Indigenous peoples
New HIV Infections
- In 2020, an estimated 1,520 new HIV infections occurred.
- This means 4 people were infected with HIV in Canada everyday
Compared to 2018, the number of new HIV infections in 2020 has
- Increased among PWID (3.4%)
- Decreased among gbMSM (18.7%)
- Decreased among Heterosexual people (15.7%)
- Decreased among gbMSM-PWID (4.4%)
- Decreased among Females (8.3%)
- Decreased among Males (15.9%)
The occurrence of new HIV infections is higher among some key populations
The estimated 2020 HIV incidence rates (per 100,000 population) for key populations and Canada overall were:
- 239.4 among people who have injected drugs in the past 6-12 months
- 166.2 sexually active gbMSMFootnote 2
- 15.2 Indigenous peoples
- 4.0 overall Canadian population
- Footnote 1
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PWID includes people with a history of injection drugs use
- Footnote 2
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Sexually active gbMSM defined as: gay, bisexual-identifing AND non-gay/bisexual-identifing men who have sex with men reporting anal sex with a man in the past 6-12 months. Sorge J, Colyer S, Cox J, Kroch A, Lachowsky N, Popovic, N, Yang Q. Estimation of the Population Size of Gay, Bisexual and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men in Canada, 2020. International AIDS Conference, 2022