MONTGOMERY, Ala. - A new study finds improvement with Alabama's diagnosis rate for AIDS and the virus that causes it.

The Center for Demographic Research at Auburn Montgomery looked at state statistics for AIDS and the human immunodeficiency virus for last year. It found both were on the decline.

The Montgomery Advertiser reports that 12.27 people per 100,000 Alabama residents were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 2012. That was fewer than the 13.75 people who were diagnosed per 100,000 people from 2011.

The number is lower than average for the South, but it's higher than the national average.

The illness affects blacks in greater numbers than other racial groups. Black made up more than 68 percent of the new infections in 2012, yet they comprise only 26 percent of Alabama's total population.