The demographic impact of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa has more than two-thirds of the world's HIV/AIDS cases and these are concentrated more densely in an 'AIDS Belt' from southern Sudan through East Africa down to South Africa. Although the number of infectious seems to have stabilised in East Africa, infection rates in southern Africa continue to soar. Over 80 per cent of the HIV/AIDS infections in sub-Saharan Africa are heterosexually transmitted and around 15 per cent of infections are caused by mother to child transmission. Increased mortality among prime age adults and infants has reduced life expectancy and altered population structure. Fertility has declined, not only through behavioural changes in response to the HIV epidemic but also due to biological changes caused by the HIV infection. The combination of increased mortality and reduced fertility will significantly slow population growth rates and may even cause population decline in the coming decades. Dependency ratios and the incidence of orphanhood are rising.