Despite more than 15 years of available highly active anti-retroviral therapy treatment, HIV-positive individuals still have a two-third shorter life-expectancy in comparison with the general population. Six studies of individuals with HIV (n = 235,854) were analysed with 7,898 deaths, of which 90% had a known cause. 42% were still due to AIDS, followed by liver-related deaths (12%), non-AIDS cancer (12%), cardiovascular disease (10%), suicide/overdose/accidents (8%), non-AIDS infection (7%) and other non-AIDS causes (11%). Recognising the causes of death among HIV-positive individuals may aid in reducing mortality.