30,000 prostitutes have licences to work in Germany, but there might be 10 times more in illegality
At the end of 2023, approximately 30,000 prostitutes had valid work licences in Germany, 8% more than in 2022, but almost 25% less than before the COVID pandemic. There are around 2,300 brothels and other companies which have licences to provide sex services.
However, the women’s rights organization Solwodi Germany estimates that there are many more sex workers in the country. They estimate that around 380,000 women work in the sex industry.
The illegal sex workers arrive from South and Southeastern Europe
According to the spokesperson of Solwodi, most of the illegal sex workers arrive in Germany from South and Southeastern European countries. The women are often too young and they are forced to work in the sex industry. They are exploited by pimps who get most of their earnings, and their clients often use violence to exploit the sex workers for their desires.
Last year, the Deputy Leader of the CDU/CSU Group, Dorothee Bär, called Germany the brothel of Europe and estimated that there are 250,000 prostitutes in the country.
One third of the sex workers and brothels disappeared in Austria as well
As Sex Vienna reported in one of its most recent articles, there were around 800 brothels in Austria and 8,000 sex workers in Austria before the COVID pandemic who had legal work licences. One third of them disappeared, and currently there are about 550 brothels and 5,000 sex workers.
As the magazine highlights, a lot of girls moved to illegal apartment prostitution, as the number of related cases with the police boomed. In 2019 there were only 40 cases against indie sex workers who worked illegally from apartments. In 2021 there were already 867 cases; last year they had 614 cases.
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