“Especially severe among men in their 40s”: 600,000 untreated people roam freely as HIV spreads to Russia’s general population

HIV infection rate among men in their 40s exceeds 3%... Average age of those infected rising
HIV spreading to the general population in 27 regions
Heterosexual contact accounts for two-thirds of new infections

More than 3 out of every 100 Russian men in their 40s are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Health authorities have also concluded that HIV has reached the “generalized epidemic” stage in 27 regions of Russia, spreading beyond high-risk groups into the general population.

On November 9 local time, Euronews and Russian independent newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported that the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, under Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor), recently released data on the country’s HIV situation.

Natalia Radnaya, a researcher at the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, said that more than 3% of Russian men aged 40 to 49 are infected with HIV. The average age of people with HIV has also risen from 32 to 44 over the past 15 years.

Twenty-seven regions of Russia have been classified as having reached the generalized epidemic stage for HIV. A generalized epidemic refers to a situation in which infections are widespread in the general population and are no longer limited to specific high-risk groups. A region is generally considered to have reached this stage when the HIV infection rate among pregnant women there exceeds 1%.

Downtown Moscow, the Russian capital. Yonhap News Agency

The situation was particularly serious in Kemerovo Oblast, Irkutsk Oblast, and Sverdlovsk Oblast. In these regions, more than 2 out of every 100 residents are estimated to be infected with HIV.

About 45,000 new HIV infections were recorded in Russia in 2025, down 13.4% from 2024. However, the total number of people with HIV continues to rise. According to Rospotrebnadzor, about 1.232 million people in Russia had been diagnosed with HIV as of the end of 2025, equivalent to 0.8% of the population.

Problems with treatment and care have also been reported. Only about half of people with HIV were found to have suppressed viral loads. This means that around 600,000 people may be in a position to transmit the virus. Among patients receiving antiretroviral therapy, the rate of viral suppression was about 78%, below the World Health Organization’s (WHO) target of 95%.

Transmission patterns are also changing. In the past, specific risk factors such as sharing needles were considered major routes of transmission. Recent research found that heterosexual contact now accounts for about two-thirds of new cases.

Experts say that the recent decline in new infections and deaths alone is not enough to conclude that Russia’s HIV problem is improving, because a considerable number of people remain untreated or unaware of their infection.

Rospotrebnadzor projected that “if current prevention and treatment policies remain in place, the number of people with HIV in Russia could rise to 1.47 million by 2030.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.