Talk:Prostitution statistics by country

sources for facts
The current article has footnoted source for most data, but not for five countries with higher values in the other source column: Croatia, Romania, Slovenia, Latvia, Venezuela (increasing by number estimated). To User:John B123, I am currently guesstimating that this list-article will survive AFD. Without burdening the AFD, perhaps you could source these items? Also it would seem appropriate to provide both of two estimates apparently available for Venezuela, per someone's comment at the AFD. If/when convenient to address. Thanks, --Doncram (talk) 01:03, 13 March 2018 (UTC)


 * Hi The figures for these countries were taken from the National Center for Biotechnology Information Estimates of the number of female sex workers in different regions of the world]. However they give percent of the population rather than absolute numbers. I have referenced these in the 'Prevalence' column and populated the 'Number of prostitutes' column in these cases by (population x percentage prevalence). The table has only ever given 473,523 prostitutes in Venezuela, I don't know where the quoted 120,000 figure comes from. John B123 (talk) 17:57, 13 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Update - I've moved the reference to the 'Number of prostitutes' column to prevent confusion John B123 (talk) 23:34, 13 March 2018 (UTC)

Page move
There is a suggestion in the Afd to rename it to Prostitution statistics by country, to distinguish this page from country ranking lists ("List of countries by..."), since there is no objective ranking due to grossly inexact data. Staszek Lem (talk) 18:37, 13 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Agree Sounds a good idea to me John B123 (talk) 21:11, 13 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Support move from "List of countries by number of prostitutes" to "Prostitution statistics by country". In the AFD i suggested getting away from the inappropriate emphasis on "List of countries" (because number of prostitutes is not a major characteristic like population is, for countries) by moving it to "Statistics of prostitution by country".  The article is not primarily a WikiProject Statistics article either, so moving it to "Prostitution statistics by country" is a further improvement.  With three people agreeing so far, I think this move could be done by anyone following the closure of the AFD, assuming a Keep outcome and no major objections being raised here. --Doncram (talk) 02:02, 14 March 2018 (UTC)
 * Support A title such as Prostitution statistics by country would allow the article to focus on the problems associated with collecting and interpreting prostitution statistics, and hopefully avoid future Afd nominations. - Polly Tunnel (talk) 16:39, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Paged moved as per discussions John B123 (talk) 21:07, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

Maroc 7 000 000 Alok rei (talk) 10:30, 16 September 2020 (UTC)

Ajout about prostitution statistics by country
Hello, the article on "statistics of prostitution by country" has been the subject of modifications all motivated by moral considerations, morality has no place in scientific facts.

I am currently carrying out university research work on prostitution in North Africa and West Africa, I saw that the section concerning Algeria was deleted despite the source which is the Abassa Institute.

The Abassa Institute founded in 1989 by the researcher, journalist and writer Mohamed Abassa specializes in polls and social surveys in Algeria.

The institute's survey was published in 2008 by the Algerian daily "L'Expression", the 5th most widely read newspaper in Algeria. (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Expression_(Alg%C3%A9rie)) https://www.lexpression.dz/nationale/la-prostitution-fait-vivre-des-familles-53630

Since then, it has been published regularly by the country's largest newspapers for its credibility, as the premier investigative journal in North Africa; AlgeriePart https://algeriepart.com/2017/10/08/enquete-lhistoire-meconnue-de-prostitution-algerie/

It would be good to add to the section "Algeria" which has a large proportion of women and men who live from prostitution the number resulting from the study (1,200,000) and the source which is the Abassa Institute cited by L'Expression. We rely heavily on Wikipedia documentation for our research and to make a difference in these countries. Moral considerations and pride wars should not hinder our work.

Dr Ismael Otaibi Dr.IsmaelOtaibi (talk) 17:24, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
 * The utterly ridiculous numbers have nothing to do with either research or facts, It all stems from TikTok (see AFP fact check article) and a bunch of kiddies from a certain country that anyone who's familiar with the region can guess. A journalist making up numbers and all kind of nonsense about other countries and an even worse one, a proven liar and gun for hire by shady businessmen who's wanted by the authorities, are not reliable sources, especially when they the claims extraordinary and contradict every serious source out there. See (the latter is by fr:Fondation_Jean-et-Jeanne-Scelles, a serious organization that is used by others and the one that will help you in your "university research") for more info. M.Bitton (talk) 17:59, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks for doing that digging. Saved me the trouble of suffering through machine translations and googling prostitution. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 18:27, 22 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 18:25, 22 April 2021 (UTC)

Wrong calculation of prevalence for DR Congo
From the table for DR Congo

Number of prostitutes: 350,000

Population: 78,736,153

With above numbers prevalence (per 10,000 population) should be 44 not 368

I don't want change this since i do not know if it is the estimated number of prostitues or the calculation that is wrong (and i can not open the reference?)

83.187.180.152 (talk) 21:40, 17 October 2021 (UTC)


 * You're right (well close enough, I made it nearer to 45). I've corrected the entry. Regards. --John B123 (talk) 22:33, 17 October 2021 (UTC)

The prevalence of Colombia and Liberia is also wrong. The number for Colombia should be 50 according to the table, and 354 for Liberia. Just the two examples which catched my eye immediately, as they are magnitudes out of order. One should check other countries, too. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:908:535:C6A0:FFC3:3CCC:767B:C235 (talk) 15:55, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

Outdated number for Germany
The given number of 300,000 prostitutes in Germany is outdated and its source (reference 17) is no longer available.

According to the "Prostituiertenschutzgesetz" from 2017, prostitutes have to be registered and to fulfill some other demands. The number of registered prostitutes was 40,370 at the end of 2019, dropped to 23,470 at the end of 2021, probably as a consequence of restrictions associated with Corona, and was 28,280 at the end of 2022.

It is estimated that a significant proportion of prostitutes is working without registration. Taking unregistered prostitutes into account, there are two recent calculations of the full number of prostitutes in Germany (both registered and unregistered prostitutes), based on complex methods described in detail in these studies:

Dona Carmen (a sexworker organization in Germany; published in 2020, based on data from 2017 and 2018): https://www.donacarmen.de/wp-content/uploads/90.000-Sexarbeiterinnen-in-Deutschland-DEF.pdf

In that calculation the number of prostitutes is given as "about 90,000" "at most", based on a full calendar year, i.e. including all sexworkers who worked sometime within a given year. It is estimated from these calculations that about 30,000 to 40,000 sexworkers offer their services on a daily base (i.e. on a given day).

Erobella: https://erobella.com/lust/wie-viele-sexarbeiterinnen-gibt-es-in-deutschland/

Based on available numbers of registered and unregistered sexworkers from 14 among the 20 largest cities in Germany, Erobella estimates the proportion of registered versus unregistered sexworkers (2.14 unregistered SW per 1.0 registered SW) and multiplies the official number of registered sexworkers (28,280) by 3.14 to estimate the total number of all prostitutes in Germany (about 88,800).

Both different methods agree in the final result that the number of sexworkers is now below 100,000.

This is much lower than earlier estimates from times before the enactment of the Prostituiertenschutzgesetz. However, earlier numbers were simple guesses, never based on complex methods and a wide range of available local data like the recent calculations by Dona Carmen (2020) and Erobella (2023).

Furthermore, it is plausible that several regulations of the Prostituiertenschutzgesetz (ProstSchG) made sexwork in Germany less attractive both for German and also for foreign sexworkers, including higher thresholds to enter sexwork and tax issues, just to mention a few.

In 2016, the German government estimated the number of prostitution businesses who fulfilled the definition of such a business according to the Prostituiertenschutzgesetz and which would have to be licensed now according to this law at about 10,000. But there were actually only 2314 licensed prostitution businesses in Germany at the end of 2022, indicating an enormous drop in the numbers of such facilities probably as a consequence of the high demands because of the law, including regulations to improve the safety, sexual free will and voluntariness of sexworkers who work in such facilities. Only registered prostitutes can offer their services in licensed facilities; otherwise the owner must pay a fine and may even lose his license and close the facility. These effects of the law suggest a sort of "clearance and selection" process among prostitution businesses and facilities since 2017, resulting in a decline of indoor working places for prostitutes.

Street prostitution was not directly targeted by the law that focussed on prostitution facilities led by an owner or administrator. 95.89.233.127 (talk) 19:28, 3 January 2024 (UTC)