Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - In North Rhine-Westphalia, 53 people died as a result of an HIV infection last year. That was 27 people fewer than in 2020 and 83 people fewer than ten years earlier, as the state statistics office IT.NRW announced on Wednesday on the occasion of World AIDS Day on December 1st. It is the lowest number of HIV deaths since records began in 1989.

About three quarters of those who died as a result of HIV infection were men. The average age at death of HIV deaths in 2021 was 60 years - in 2011 it was almost eight years less. According to the statistical office, three people out of every one million inhabitants in North Rhine-Westphalia died as a result of HIV infection in 2021.

IT.NRW pointed out that the numbers are a lower limit - an HIV infection is not always known when a death certificate is issued.