Based on data from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the number of sex workers officially registered under the Prostitution Protection Act (ProstSchG) reached approximately 32,500 in Germany by the end of 2025. This figure represents a slight increase of 0.7 percent compared to 2024, when the number stood at 32,300.
Despite this minor rise, the total number of registered sex workers at the close of 2025 was significantly lower than the count recorded before the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019, when 40,400 workers were registered.
Regarding business permits, the number of licenses for prostitution businesses remained nearly stable year-on-year, totaling around 2,260 at the end of 2025, an increase of only 0.1 percent from the previous year. In 2019, 2,170 such businesses held a permit. It is important to note that these statistics only cover registrations and official permits granted under the ProstSchG; unregistered workers and businesses are not included in these counts.
Demographically, the majority of the approximately 32,500 registered sex workers were between 21 and 44 years old, accounting for 23,900 or 74 percent of the total. Those aged 45 or older made up 7,600 (24 percent), while 900 workers (3 percent) were between 18 and 20 years old. Concerning nationality, 5,700 registered workers held German citizenship, which constituted 18 percent of the total. The three most frequently identified foreign nationalities among the workers were Romanian, with 11,300 (35 percent of all registered sex workers); Bulgarian, with 3,500 (11 percent); and Spanish, with 2,900 (9 percent).
Furthermore, the federal office reported that 93 percent of the registered prostitution businesses were established as fixed locations, such as bordellos. The remaining permits were split between prostitution agencies (5 percent), and mobile operations, including prostitution vehicles and events (2 percent).
