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In 2012 it was estimated that there were between 40 and 42 million prostitutes in the world. The list of countries below provides an estimate for the number of people working as prostitutes in each country. China, India, and the United States are the countries with the most prostitutes.

Methodology

There are a number of difficulties involved in collecting meaningful prostitution statistics. For example, the greater visibility of some forms of prostitution, such as street prostitution, makes statistics on these forms easier to collect. However, in some countries street prostitution forms a much smaller part of the sex industry than indoor prostitution. Similarly sex workers with health, addiction and other support needs are more likely to be known to the authorities and hence easier for researchers to contact, but may not be representative of prostitution as a whole. National Ugly Mugs, a support organisation for sex workers in the United Kingdom, has identified several factors making it difficult to collect statistics for the sex industry, including low response rates, the small scale of research compared to the size of the sex industry, and the diversity of the industry. As a result published statistics are often conflicting and contested.

In countries where prostitution is illegal, the use of arrest data to create general prostitution statistics can be misleading. The majority of prostitutes are never arrested, and those who are, can often be charged with other offences instead. Class bias may be introduced into the statistics as a result of police officers being more likely to arrest street prostitutes than high-class call girls. In comparing one area with another there may be differences in the definition of a crime, the police enforcement rate, and the possibility of the inflation of arrest figures or the under-reporting of crime.

Due to the unregulated and often illegal nature of the work, only estimates are available for the number of prostitutes in a country. The numbers for a country can vary considerably dependent on the source. Some countries' numbers may suffer from poor methodology. In other cases, results may be influenced by whether the organisation producing the numbers is for or against the nature of the work. Where available, figures are taken from Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS 2016 "Sex Workers: Size Estimates."

References

1. Gus Lubin (17 January 2012). "There Are 42 Million Prostitutes In The World, And Here's Where They Live". Business Insider. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
2. Home Affairs Committee (15 June 2016). Prostitution: Third Report of Session 2016–17 (PDF) (Report). House of Commons. pp. 8–9.
3. Flowers, Ronald B. (1998). The Prostitution of Women and Girls. McFarland. p. 15. ISBN 9780786404902.
4. "Sex workers: Population size estimate - Number, 2016 - 2018". www.kpatlas.unaids.org. UNAIDS. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
5. "Sex workers: Population size estimate - Number, 2016". www.aidsinfoonline.org. UNAIDS. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
6. "Total Population - Both Sexes". World Population Prospects, the 2017 Revision. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, Population Estimates and Projections Section. June 2017. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
7. "Sex Work in Albania – an Overview". SWAN. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
8. "The Australian sex industry". Australian Institute of Criminology. November 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
9. "Austria: Discriminations against Sex Workers in the Rights to Work and to Health". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. November 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
10. Shaw, Susan M.; Barbour, Nancy Staton; Duncan, Patti; Freehling-Burton, Kryn; Nichols, Jane (December 2017). Women's Lives around the World: A Global Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 26. ISBN 978-1610697118.
11. Vlassenbroeck, Julien (18 May 2015). "Plus de 20 000 prostituées soumises à l'exploitation en Belgique". RTBF Info (in French). Retrieved 13 March 2018.
12. Pem, Damchoe (29 July 2017). "400 to 500 possible sex workers in Bhutan - The Bhutanese". The Bhutanese. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
13. "Ley de regulación al comercio sexual en Chile". www.bcn.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 November 2022.
14. "Sex Work & HIV - China" (PDF). Aids Data Hub. August 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
15. ^ "Number of Prostitutes by Country - Havocscope". Havocscope. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
16. ^ Vandepitte, J; Lyerla, R; Dallabetta, G; Crabbé, F; Alary, M; Buvé, A (2006). "Estimates of the number of female sex workers in different regions of the world". Sexually Transmitted Infections. 82 (Suppl 3): iii18–iii25. doi:10.1136/sti.2006.020081. PMC 2576726. PMID 16735288.
17. ^ "How many Prostitutes?". Exeter University. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
18. "France 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report". U.S. Department of State. Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
19. "Report on the demand side of sexual services in Hungary" (PDF). ICCR-Budapest Foundation. September 2006. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
20. Sharifi, Hamid; Karamouzian, Mohammad; Baneshi, Mohammad Reza; Shokoohi, Mostafa; Haghdoost, AliAkbar; McFarland, Willi; Mirzazadeh, Ali (10 August 2017). "Population size estimation of female sex workers in Iran: Synthesis of methods and results". PLOS ONE. 12 (8): e0182755. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1282755S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0182755. PMC 5552099. PMID 28796847.
21. "12,000 women work in prostitution in Israel, gov't says". Times of Israel. 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
22. "Lithuania". SWAN. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
23. "National Strategic Plan for the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS" (PDF). Ministry of Health Republic of Maldives. 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
24. "The Nature and Extent of the Sex Industry in New Zealand: An Estimation" (PDF). Prostitution Law Review Committee. April 2005. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
25. Hyams, James (4 February 2015). "Does North Korea have sex trade and drug problem?". The Korea Observer. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
26. João Saramago, Estrangeiras dominam prazer, Correio da Manhã (17 March 2005)
27. "Reversing the Epidemic; Facts and Policy Options" (PDF).
28. Hsu, Jenny W. (16 November 2011). "The Trouble With Taiwan's New Prostitution Rules". WSJ. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
29. "Academic highlights high prostitution figures in Turkey's $4 billion industry". Hürriyet Daily News. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
30. "Prostitution" (PDF). House of Commons Home Affairs Committee. 15 June 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
31. "How Many Prostitutes Are in the United States and the Rest of the World?". Prostitution.procon.org. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
32. Gus Lubin (17 January 2012). "There Are 42 Million Prostitutes In The World, And Here's Where They Live". Business Insider. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
33. "12 383 sex workers register". The Herald. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2018.

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