Available studies indicate that, sometimes people do not perceive their risk of HIV adequatelyrnand therefore, they are less motivated to protect themselves and others from HIV infection. InrnDessie town, as in many other Ethiopian towns, city and other settings of the world, the sexualrnbehaviors and self assessment of the risk of HIVinfection of the current cohort of young peoplernwill strongly influence the course of HIVIAIDS The purpose of this study is to identifY thernsocio-economic and behavioral factors that affect risk perception of HIV infection among youngrnadults in the age 15- 29 years.rnMethod: This study is a cross-sectional survey research that was conducted in AmhararnRegion, Dessie town form15 February to 15 March 2008. A total of 721 youths in the agerngroup 15-29 were selected using cluster sampling method followed by simple random samplingrnmethod. A self-administered structured questionnaire, FGDs and interview with key informantsrnwere used to collect the required data from the study participants. The data were edited, codedrnentered, cleaned and analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis with SPSs.rnResults show that about half of the study participants are sexually experienced. Of these,rn55.6% had sex with one partner only, about a quarter used condoms consistently and aboutrn19% had multiple sexual partners and did not use condom. Nearly 12% of the sexually activernparticipants had ever contracted at least one STls. Overall, 7% of males and 11.5% offemalesrnperceived high risk of HIV infection; and 12% of male and 15.8% of female respondentsrnperceive themselves to have a moderate chance of gelling HIV. In general, female respondentsrnwere considerably more likely than males to report themselves at a higher risk of HIV infection.rnSex, exposure to media, religiosity, age at first sex, the number of life time partners, agerndifference between partners, condom use, taking HIV test, are found to be the predictors ofrnrisk perception of HIV infection among young adults in Dessie town.rnConclusiolls: The findings of this study provide justification for intervention targeting on keyrnfactors that influence the risk perception of HIV infection. Providing the necessary informationrnin a way that could bring about behavioral change among the young adults is recommended.rn11