China has 575,000 people with HIV/AIDS

The total number of people living with HIV/AIDS in China has hit 575,000 -- and 177,000 have succumbed to it so far, official data said on Monday.

Six out of every 10,000 people in China may be infected with HIV/AIDS, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Describing the situation as a mild pandemic, the CDC said men who have sex with men were amongst the highest infection rate, Xinhua news agency reported.

Around eight percent of men who have sex with men in China are living with HIV/AIDS, according to the 2015 statistics.

Sexual transmission is the main cause, with infection through heterosexual activities accounting for 66.6 percent of total cases, those through homosexual activities 27.2 percent, while mother-to-child and drug needle infection rates are low.

Infections among young people have become particularly noticeable as 2,662 new cases of students living with HIV/AIDS were reported from January to October, a surge of 27.8 percent year on year, the CDC said.

Some 97,000 new cases in total were reported in the period.