137 countries · last reviewed 30 October 2026
Where is prostitution legal?
Selling sex is legal in many countries. What differs is everything around it: buying, working together, running a venue, advertising online. Select a country for its laws, with a link to every statute.
- Decriminalisation 3
- Regulation (legal & licensed) 11
- Legal, organisation banned 58
- Buying criminalised (Nordic model) 10
- Selling and buying prohibited 55
- Not covered yet
- Legal 34
- Legal under licence / registration 8
- Legal with restrictions 40
- Illegal 51
- Varies by region 4
- Not covered yet
- Legal under licence / registration 12
- Legal with restrictions 9
- Illegal 114
- Varies by region 2
- Not covered yet
- Legal 4
- Legal with restrictions 69
- Illegal 61
- Varies by region 3
- Not covered yet
Selling sexual services, for an adult acting consensually.Brothels and managed venues, for an adult acting consensually.Advertising sexual services, for an adult acting consensually.
Five approaches
No prostitution-specific criminal law. Sex work is regulated like other work.
Selling sex and running venues are legal under a licensing or registration regime.
Austria, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Panama, Switzerland, Turkey, Uruguay
Selling and buying are legal, but brothels, procuring and organising are criminal offences.
Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Gabon, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of the Congo, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom, Venezuela
Buying sex is an offence; selling it is not (the "Nordic" or "Equality" model).
Andorra, Canada, El Salvador, France, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Nepal, Norway, Sweden
Selling sex is an offence (criminal or administrative), whether or not buying is.
Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Cameroon, China, Croatia, Egypt, Georgia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Maldives, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, North Korea, North Macedonia, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Somalia, South Korea, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen
Read this first
A country's model is a simplification. States, cities and regions add their own rules, and enforcement matters as much as the statute. Each profile spells out the detail and how we classify.
What’s changing
- November 2026GermanyExpert commission on improving the protection of sex workers (Prostituiertenschutz-Kommission)Under review · next: Legislative proposals due at the end of November 2026; non-legislative proposals and final report due end of May 2027.
- 3 November 2026NetherlandsImplementation of revised EU Anti-Trafficking Directive (bill 36 835), incl. new art. 250b Sr on sex-ad platformsIn parliament · next: Eerste Kamer justice committee procedure meeting
- 5 November 2026Dominican RepublicCorporate criminal liability under the new Penal Code takes effectAdopted · next: Arts. 8–11 of Law 74-25 (corporate criminal liability, applied to procuring by Art. 183) enter into force
- 25 November 2026SwedenBill 2025/26:313: new offence of using the services of a trafficking victimIn parliament · next: Riksdag vote on the Justice Committee report 2026/27:JuU9 (planned)
- 29 November 2026SpainReform of Organic Law 4/2015 on public safety (Proposición de Ley Orgánica 122/000131)Stalled · next: General election; a new Cortes would have to start the bill again
- December 2026NetherlandsStatutory minimum age of 21 for prostitution / sex workProposed · next: Draft bill (stepwise increase to 21 for sex work) being prepared for consultation and then the Council of State; the minister aims to inform parliament on its legal design by end 2026. No bill tabled as of 30 October 2026
For journalists and researchers
Sourced to the statute
Every statement links to the official legal text or the government source behind it, with the date we last checked. 15 countries have full, independently fact-checked profiles; the rest have overviews of the core questions.
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