New Report Lowers Life Expectancy Estimates for South Africans
The life expectancy of the average South African will be reduced to below 40 years of age by 2010 due to AIDS, according to a new report released yesterday by consulting firm NMG-Levy, Agence France-Presse reports. The life expectancy of a South African woman is expected to drop to 37 in 2010, down from 54 in 1999. South African men are expected to live to the age of 38 in 2010. "The population of those aged 15 and below will be relatively large, as will the population of seniors aged 50 and above," the report added (Agence France-Presse, 4/18). The report also stated that nearly 30% of South Africa's workforce will be HIV-positive by 2005. According to the study, nearly 25% of the country's workforce is already HIV-positive, and employers can expect to lose more than 4% of their employees to AIDS-related causes over the next decade. The report estimates that one million South Africans will have AIDS by 2010 and that six million citizens will have died from AIDS-related causes by this time. An estimated one in nine South Africans is HIV-positive (Ntingi, Reuters, 4/18).
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