Number of prostitutes in Germany up 19%, but below pre-Covid levels

With coronavirus restrictions a thing of the past, the number of officially registered prostitutes in Germany rose to 28,280 in 2022 - a 19% increase over 2021, the Federal Statistical Office announced on Friday.

"The reason for the increase is likely to be the complete abolition of the coronavirus requirements in April 2022," the statisticians said in a statement.

The data for 2019, which was before the virus provoked widespread closures, showed 40,370 people registered as sex workers.

Under Germany's Prostitutes Protection Act of 2017, prostitutes must be registered, although illegal activity remains.

Friday's data showed a "significant increase in the number of prostitutes from Ukraine," the office said, with 470 Ukrainian prostitutes registered in 2022 compared to 180 in 2021 - a 161% increase.

Last year there were 5,200 sex workers with German citizenship or 18% of the total. The three most common foreign nationalities were Romanian, with 35%, followed by Bulgarian with 11% and Spanish with 6%.

The data office also said there was an increase in the number of prostitution facilities, such as brothels, last year, with 2,310 registering for a permit compared to 2,290 in 2021.

"Unregistered trades and prostitutes are not included in the statistics," the German numbers crunchers said.