From January to October, 16,131 new cases of HIV infections among citizens over 50 were reported, marking a year-on-year increase of 20.2 per cent, Chinese Health Ministry said.
There were also 9,514 new cases of HIV reported among young people aged 15 to 24, up 12.8 per cent year on year, state run Xinhua quoted the Ministry as saying.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic is rampant in some locations and among certain groups of people.
In total, China reported 492,191 cases of HIV/AIDS by the end of October, and 68,802 of these were new cases reported this year, the Ministry said.
Earlier report said there is a big spurt of HIV and AIDS cases among people aged 50 and above in China in recent years mainly attributed to prostitution.
The new trend was related to factors like longer sexually active period of Chinese men and better economic conditions.
Also a growing number of rural women left behind by husbands who sought employment in cities entered the sex trade, targeting mainly older men in rural areas, Ge Xianmin, a key official with the HIV/AIDS prevention and control office in Guangxi, said.
"That's a key reason for quickly rising HIV prevalence among local senior men," he said.
