A beeswarm chart shows that HIV prevalence among youth aged 15–24 is not distributed equally between young women and young men, and the difference is most pronounced in sub-Saharan Africa.
HIV prevalence among young women varies widely across countries. While most report very low prevalence, clustering near zero, a couple high-burden countries report rates as high as 7.7%—roughly 26 times the world average of 0.3%.
Nine of the 10 countries with the highest HIV prevalence among young women are in Eastern and Southern Africa, highlighted here, with Eswatini and South Africa leading at approximately 7.7% each. UNAIDS has identified the region as the epicenter of the global epidemic for more than two decades, with adolescent girls and young women consistently more likely to acquire HIV than their male peers (UNAIDS, 2025).
Outside sub-Saharan Africa, HIV prevalence is markedly lower overall, with Papua New Guinea representing a notable exception at 1.9%—more than six times the global average. The country also exhibits one of the widest gender disparities in the dataset: young women are nearly four times as likely as young men to be HIV-positive, a ratio exceeded only by the Republic of Congo (4.2).
Papua New Guinea has long relied on international funding for its HIV response, covering just 30% of its HIV spending domestically (UNAIDS, 2026). Amid declining global HIV financing, infections in the country have doubled since 2010, straining the health system and prompting the national government to declare an HIV crisis in June 2025 (UNAIDS, 2026). UNAIDS estimates that 2,700 infants in Papua New Guinea acquired HIV in 2024, and women account for roughly 60% of adults living with HIV in the country.
Worldwide, HIV prevalence among young men is lower and more uniform. The global average is lower—0.2% versus 0.3%—and the highest prevalence recorded for young men (3.6%) is less than half the peak seen among young women (7.7%).
A similar geographic pattern emerges among young men. Eastern and Southern Africa, highlighted here, account for all 10 highest-burden countries, a slightly greater concentration than observed among young women. South Africa and Eswatini—the same two countries with the highest HIV prevalence among young women (7.7%)—also lead among young men, though at less than half that level (3.6% each).
The Americas also stand out—16 of the 24 countries in the region with available data, roughly two-thirds, report HIV prevalence above the global average for young men, spanning the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. None approaches the peaks observed in sub-Saharan Africa; Panama, with the region's highest rate (0.7%), remains a fraction of the 3.6% peak recorded in Eastern and Southern Africa.
Within this broader pattern, Latin America presents a distinct gender dynamic. Young men account for 77% of new HIV infections among 15- to 24-year-olds—an inverse gender gap from what emerges in Eastern and Southern Africa (UNAIDS, 2025). The pattern reflects concentration among specific populations. The median HIV prevalence among gay men and other men who have sex with men in the region is 8.2%, nearly 14 times the 0.6% prevalence among adults overall (UNAIDS, 2025).
South Africa—highlighted in this final view as part of Eastern and Southern Africa's highest-burden cluster for young men and home to the largest population of people living with HIV—is now slated to lose PEPFAR (U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) funding entirely by early 2027 (Elimian & Wu, 2026). Funding cuts to PEPFAR since 2025 have closed more than 1,700 HIV service sites worldwide and effectively paused broader PrEP access, after the administration's foreign aid review terminated most related awards (KFF, 2026). Whether additional funding cuts follow remains to be seen, but the risk runs toward widening the region's gender gap in HIV prevalence rather than narrowing it.