HIV/AIDS plaguing more than 10 percent of South African population has brought life expectancy in the country straight down to 51 years old from 64, reported South African newspaper Sunday Independent.

Life expectancy was expected to fall to a little above 50 by 2012 -- 48 years for men and 52 years for women -- on the assumption that half of the HIV/AIDS sufferers would have access to antiretroviral treatment(ART).

Only one third of South African AIDS patients in urgent need of ART have been receiving the life-prolonging drug.

The newspaper cited a study on the impact of HIV/AIDS which was recently released by the country's Actuarial Society in association with the Center for Actuarial Research and the Medical Research Council (MRC).

The study reported a 200 percent increase in deaths among women in the 30-39 age group from 1997 to 2002, with a 100 percent increase in male deaths.

It is estimated there were about 14,000 AIDS deaths in 1995, 130,000 in 2000 and 330,000 last year. The report said there were about 950 AIDS-related deaths per day last year, while estimates suggest 1,400 new infections a day.

More than 5.5 million South Africans, or 12 percent of the population, are infected with HIV. The United Nations said this number is the second largest in the world, only after India.

Experts said declining life expectancy was a major worry, especially because the population pyramid is changed with fewer people in the middle ages, normally the economically active and skilled group and families' bread-earners to support the elderly and younger groups.

"Most countries have an increasing life expectancy. It is only the countries hit by AIDS that are experiencing a decline," said senior MRC researcher Debbie Bradshaw.

Life expectancy in some other countries of southern Africa, the epicenter of global AIDS pandemic, is even lower than that in South Africa, said the newspaper.

Life expectancy in Zimbabwe is 37 years for men and 34 for women, the lowest in the world in 2006, according to the World Health Organization, while in Botswana adult mortality is 38, Malawi 38 and Zambia 39.