Analysis by socio-demographic characteristics

Three findings are noteworthy. Firstly, one can note that the three items representing
ways of contracting HIV are generally answered in the same way independent of the
respondent’s socio-demographic profile. Only older people, aged 55 and more and
those who finished their full-time education by the age of 15 or less, have slightly
more difficulty in answering correctly.
Secondly sex, age, education level, household size and urbanization are important
variables in the way answers are given to the other statements of the list. The general
tendency is:

- there are no significant gender differences;
- the younger the respondent, the more likely the answer is to be correct;
- the higher the education level, the more likely the answer is to be correct;
- those living in a household of three or more people have a greater tendency to
give the correct answer;
- those who are retired give the correct answer less often;
- citizens living in large towns seem to give the correct answer slightly more
often than those living in rural areas
However several exceptions can be found:
- Women answer ‘no’ less often for “sitting on a toilet seat” (52% compared to
57% for men)
- and slightly less women than men give the correct answer for “drinking from a
glass” and “giving blood”
Finally older people, aged 55 and more and those who finished their full-time education
by the age of 15 or less, have slightly more difficulty in answering this question, as the
non-response rate is systematically higher for these categories of the population.