List of red-light districts


Red-light districts are areas associated with the sex industry and sex-oriented businesses. In some of these places prostitution occurs, whether legally or illegally. The enforcement of prostitution laws varies by region.
Following is a partial list of well known red-light districts around the world, both current and historical.

Africa

Algeria

Prostitution in Algeria is illegal.

Burkina Faso

Prostitution is not specifically prohibited by the law, but soliciting and pimping are illegal.

Egypt

Prostitution in Egypt is illegal.

Ivory Coast

Prostitution in Ivory Coast is legal.

Kenya

Prostitution is illegal.

Mauritania

Prostitution in Mauritania is illegal.

Morocco

Prostitution is illegal.

South Africa

Prostitution is illegal.

Tunisia

Prostitution is regulated.

Asia

Bangladesh

Prostitution in Bangladesh is legal and regulated.

Cambodia

Prostitution is illegal, but tolerated.

China

Prostitution is illegal.

Hong Kong

Prostitution itself is not illegal but operating a brothel is illegal.

India

Prostitution is legal when performed by a person acting alone in private but public solicitation, brothels and pimping are illegal.

Indonesia

Prostitution is illegal in non-regulated areas. Prostitution is legal in some locations.

Iran

Prostitution in Iran is illegal, and incurs various punishments ranging from fines and jail terms to execution for repeat offenders.

Iraq

Prostitution in Iraq is illegal, and penalties are severe.

Israel

Japan

Prostitution is illegal but narrowly defined. Many sexual acts for pay that would be considered to be prostitution in other countries are legal.

Jordan

Prostitution is illegal.

Kyrgyzstan

Prostitution is legal but pimping and operating a brothel are illegal.

Malaysia

Prostitution in most of Malaysia is legal and widespread, though there are laws against prostitution-related activities. However, prostitution is illegal in Malaysia's Kelantan state.

South Korea

Prostitution is illegal, but in practice it is tolerated and regulated.

Pakistan

Prostitution is illegal, but in practice it is somewhat tolerated although not regulated.

Philippines

Prostitution is illegal, but widespread and generally tolerated.

Singapore

Prostitution itself is not illegal; however, public solicitation, living on the earnings of prostitution, and maintaining a brothel are illegal.

Taiwan

Prostitution in Taiwan was made illegal under a 1991 law. Legislation was introduced in 2011 to allow local governments in Taiwan to set up "special zones" where prostitution is permitted. Outside these zones prostitution is illegal. As of 2017 no "special zones" had been opened.

Thailand

Prostitution is illegal in Thailand, and solicitation and public nuisance laws are in effect. In practice it is tolerated and partly regulated.

Turkey

Prostitution is legal and regulated.

Europe

Austria

Prostitution is legal and regulated.

Belgium

Prostitution is legal, though brothels are not. Enforcement of the law can be lax.

Croatia

Prostitution is illegal.

Czech Republic

Prostitution is legal, but brothels and other forms of procuring are prohibited.
Ostrava

Denmark

Prostitution is legal, but running brothels and pimping are illegal.

Finland

Prostitution is legal, but running brothels and pimping are illegal.
  • Helsinki
  • *Aleksis Kiven katu and Vaasankatu

France

Paying for sex, pimping and keeping a brothel are illegal. Prostitutes commit no offence unless soliciting.

Germany

Prostitution is legal and regulated.

Gibraltar

Prostitution is illegal.
  • Seruya's Ramp,

Greece

Prostitution is legal and regulated.

Ireland

Paying for sex is illegal, as is soliciting in a public place, operating brothels, and other forms of pimping.

Italy

Prostitution in Italy is legal, although organized prostitution, whether indoors in brothels or controlled by third parties, is prohibited.

Lithuania

Prostitution in Lithuania is illegal.

Luxembourg

Prostitution is legal, but running brothels and pimping are illegal.

Malta

Prostitution is legal, but running brothels and pimping are illegal.

Netherlands

Prostitution and associated activities are legal and common. A total of 11 cities in the Netherlands have red light districts with window prostitution.

Portugal

Prostitution is legal, but running brothels and pimping are illegal.
  • Lisbon
  • *Cais do Sodré
  • *Rua Nova do Carvalho
  • Porto
  • *Rua Coelho Neto
  • *Rua Conde de Ferreira
  • * Rua Escura
  • Braga
  • *Residencial Cairense

Serbia

Spain

Brothels are illegal, but "clubs" and "wiskerias" are fronts for prostitution and are tolerated.

Switzerland

Prostitution is legal and regulated.

United Kingdom

England

Prostitution is not illegal when performed by a person acting alone in private, but public solicitation, brothels and pimping are. The Policing and Crime Act 2009 makes it illegal to pay for sex with a prostitute who has been "subjected to force" and this is a strict liability offence.

Northern Ireland

Wales

North America

Antigua and Barbuda

Prostitution is legal, but related activities are prohibited.

Aruba

Prostitution is legal and regulated.

Barbados

Prostitution is legal, but related activities such as brothel keeping and solicitation are prohibited.

Canada

Prostitution is legal but the purchase of sexual services is not. Many associated activities are also illegal.
  • Montreal
  • *Red-Light District : The area centred around Saint Catherine Street and Saint-Laurent Boulevard was historically the city's red light district throughout much of the 20th century, as well as being known for strip clubs and sex shops. In recent decades this has changed drastically as the area gentrified into the Quartier des Spectacles and today prostitution is virtually nonexistent.
  • *Centre-Sud: The Centre-Sud, of which Sainte-Marie is a part, was notorious for prostitution from the 1990s well into the 2010s, particularly on Ontario Street and Dufresne Street. In recent years, gentrification has changed this significantly.
  • *Hochelaga-Maisonneuve: Known for prostitution, particularly in the lower southwestern Hochelaga segment.
  • *Ahuntsic: Located in the north end of Montreal, parts of the Ahuntsic neighbourhood have long been known for prostitution and drugs, partly due to a large presence of cheap motels on Lajeunesse Street and proximity to Quebec Autoroute 40.
  • Vancouver
  • * Chinatown, Vancouver : Dupont Street, between Westminster Ave and Carrall, was Vancouver's first official red light district which began when Bridie Stewart set up a shop at 101 Dupont. The district was relocated in 1906 to Shanghai and Canton Alley, which collaboratively hosted 105 brothels. It was later closed and relocated to Shore Street, then Alexander in 1912.
  • * West End, Vancouver: An unofficial city red-light district located on and around Davie Street. The sex work hub from the 1960s-1983. Coined the "Prostitution Capitol of Canada", which served as a safe community where cisgender, transgender, and two-spirit workers of many ages worked together and looked out for each other's safety. The location of the informative documentary Hookers on Davie. Diminished by the 1983 injunction formed by the Concerned Residents of the West End which forcefully displaced sex workers out of the West End.
  • * Downtown Eastside: An unlisted district in Vancouver where workers face routine violence and harassment. The Downtown Eastside is the sex trades final destination of city displacement over several years. In 2003, a large number of sex workers went missing and/or were murdered. Many of these were tied to serial killer Robert Pickton, and were the largest contributor to the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls cases over the years. Today workers are increasingly facing the effects of new developments and surveillance that are pushing them into isolated areas where they are at greater risk of harm; forcing them to rush or forgo screening and negotiation processes that puts them at a greater risk of bad dates and STI contraction.

Costa Rica

Prostitution is legal, but related activities such as brothel keeping are illegal.

Guatemala

Prostitution is legal, but procuring is prohibited.

Mexico

Prostitution is legal and regulated.

Panama

United States

Prostitution laws vary by state and territory, however it is illegal except for some rural counties of Nevada. Strip clubs are legal in most areas, including fully nude strip clubs. Many massage shops offer "happy endings", which is an illegal form of prostitution.

Oceania

Australia

Prostitution laws vary by state, either being legal or decriminalized.

New Zealand

Prostitution and associated activities are legal.