A survey has shown the HIV/Aids pandemic is largely responsible for a dramatic drop in life expectancy.

It shows the average South African will not live longer than 50 years.

South Africa is one of only six out of a group of 37 developed and developing countries which had a decreasing life expectancy rate between 1990 and 2007.

The Institute of Race Relations’s Gail Eddy has blamed the pandemic for this.

"We’ve seen that the HIV rate is increasing and with it deaths from HIV/Aids are increasing as well," said Eddy.