Has the corona pandemic had an impact on prostition in Germany? The question is easily answered using numbers.
The number of prostitutes registered in Germany has also decreased in the second year of Corona. According to the Federal Statistical Office on Friday, around 23,700 prostitutes were registered with the authorities at the end of 2021, five percent fewer than in the previous year.
The number of prostitution businesses with a granted or provisional permit was unchanged at 2,290. For the first time in a year-on-year comparison, there was no increase in the permitted businesses, the statisticians in Wiesbaden said.
According to the Federal Office, the corona pandemic continues to make itself felt in the development. In 2020 and 2021, the practice of prostitution and the operation of a trade had been made more difficult or prohibited in some cases. The registration process was also sometimes affected. “These reasons are likely to be responsible for the decline in the number of registered prostitutes from around 40,400 in the pre-Corona year of 2019 to 23,700 at the end of 2021.”
Most of the registered prostitutes – 18,100 or 76 percent – were between 21 and 44 years old. 4900 (21 percent) were aged 45 and over and 700 (3 percent) between 18 and 20 years old. 19 percent had German citizenship, 36 percent had a Romanian passport, eleven percent had a Bulgarian and six percent had a Hungarian passport.
The vast majority of registered trades were prostitution establishments such as brothels (93 percent); prostitution agencies, vehicles and events accounted for a total of seven percent of the permits.
According to the Prostitute Protection Act, which has been in force since July 1, 2017, prostitutes must register, and the trades require a permit. Businesses and people who are not registered are not recorded in the statistics, nor is the sex of the prostitutes.
