The price of sex around the world?

[Townie]

Thought this would be an interesting article, but the more I read the more I was dubious about the detail.

External Link/Members Only


"The Havocscope team analyzed thousands of profiles of female sex workers on 200 websites, covering 55 countries, from escort directories to agencies and some of the most recognized international sites.

The prices obtained for the visualization aren’t “the standard,” rather the approximate average of prices published in 2019 by the many escorts on the web.

It’s worth mentioning that we are not talking about prostitution in general but independent escorts or legally authorized agencies. These are not prices that you can find in the streets late at night or in the famous red-light districts, so they are much higher than one would think."

All prices are shown in US dollars for 1 hour. Some examples:

Australia   350
Germany   350
Singapore   350
United Kingdom   350
Poland   320
Belgium   300
Japan   300
New Zealand   300
South Africa   300
United States   250
Ireland   230
Netherlands   180
Thailand   150
Philippines   140
Colombia   50

I'm suspicious about these supposed prices, UK $350 is just under £300 for "average" 1 hour escort charge?? Thought it might be useful as a comparison at least of costs relative to other countries, but I don't know enough about punting abroad to know how accurate even that is.

[alabama1]

Thought this would be an interesting article, but the more I read the more I was dubious about the detail.

External Link/Members Only


"The Havocscope team analyzed thousands of profiles of female sex workers on 200 websites, covering 55 countries, from escort directories to agencies and some of the most recognized international sites.

The prices obtained for the visualization aren’t “the standard,” rather the approximate average of prices published in 2019 by the many escorts on the web.

It’s worth mentioning that we are not talking about prostitution in general but independent escorts or legally authorized agencies. These are not prices that you can find in the streets late at night or in the famous red-light districts, so they are much higher than one would think."

All prices are shown in US dollars for 1 hour. Some examples:

Australia   350
Germany   350
Singapore   350
United Kingdom   350
Poland   320
Belgium   300
Japan   300
New Zealand   300
South Africa   300
United States   250
Ireland   230
Netherlands   180
Thailand   150
Philippines   140
Colombia   50

I'm suspicious about these supposed prices, UK $350 is just under £300 for "average" 1 hour escort charge?? Thought it might be useful as a comparison at least of costs relative to other countries, but I don't know enough about punting abroad to know how accurate even that is.

You thought wrong 

[Steely Dan]

These data are terrible.  It is looking at e.g. Sugarbabes, and ignoring AW. Useless.

And they code the USA and the UK the same as 'limited legal'.  Misleading.  It is a crime in the USA for both the buyer and the seller in all but a few counties in Nevada.  And the police sometimes trap you. It is legal in the UK (other than NI)  for the buyer and the seller.  Just no brothels and a few other restrictions as made clear all over this site. Grading these 2 places the same is nonsense.

[KatieEdinburgh]

I'm suspicious about these supposed prices, UK $350 is just under £300 for "average" 1 hour escort charge?? Thought it might be useful as a comparison at least of costs relative to other countries, but I don't know enough about punting abroad to know how accurate even that is.

These figures are just completely pulled from nowhere, I would strongly doubt the way they used to calculate them was meaningful.

Very inaccurate - prostitution is far far more expensive per hour in the USA than it is here in UK or rest of Europe, due to increased risk of being arrested as it’s illegal. Girls who are young and pretty easily can charge $1,000 per hour and still get bookings. I know this by asking friends who have worked there.

[scutty brown]

I'd guess the UK prices have just been pulled off the London agency sites

The USA prices will be skewed because it's illegal for the girls to advertise, so the online prices you can find will relate to trafficked / illegal / transient girls / pop-up brothels
Like comparing carrots and cucumbers

[Townie]

I'd guess the UK prices have just been pulled off the London agency sites

Ah now that might explain things! Classic case of working with data but not understanding the context.

Some countries look bizarrely skewed. US and Netherlands just way off what you'd expect. Quite a waste of combing through 200 websites...

[Anadin]

Yeah No way UK is more expensive than the USA. From what I've seen they pay more & are screened cause it's illegal. Plus $200 an hour for a Brazilian escort in Brazil doesn't seem right. I checked the prices of some famous "Luxury escorts" I've wanted to see for some time and my top choices, the type of chick I'd get on a plane to go see at their market's high end, were coming in around R$600 an hour which is just $116 USD.

[Brumish]

I've been following a few AW profiles and at least three have reduced their rate by £20 (180-160, 200-180, etc) in the last few weeks. Although the 350 might be some sort of average its probably before the notion of cost of living crisis that is imminent.

[big-al93]

But don't put it past prossie logic to read that, and despite being based in Cumbernauld (feel free to replace with any shitty little town close to an urban sprawl) decide well if that's the average, then that's what I should be charging.

Despite the busy very attractive girls with good service charging anywhere from £130- £200.

I'm sure a few will try it and point to this "research" when called out about it.

[Malvolio]

That Germany price is way too high (as is the UK one).  Even with a skewed average from super-expensive escorts, you don't need to pay anywhere near that for a shag.

[nigel4498]

I’m off to Columbia then

[petermisc]

I'd guess the UK prices have just been pulled off the London agency site

You are probably right.  If you look at many London agency sites, there are significant numbers of high-priced escorts.  On Diva, for example, over 50% are £300+ ph.  On the LEG front page, 50 out of 75 "new entries" are £300+ ph.  I am surprised that the London average isn't way above £350.

However, that doesn't mean that the majority of bookings are at that average.  A lot of high-priced escorts, taking few daily bookings, will completely skew their figures.

[Marmalade]

They would have done better methinks taking data from UKP (and filling any missing bits from ISG).
The chart is completely worthless. I suppose it could be re-titled along the lines of how much an American with more money than sense might pay.

[Punter S Thompson]

150 for an hour in Thailand is way off!

[Stevelondon]

Bollocks and worthless statistic.

[Rover78]

It's a shame it's all complete bollocks. I've often thought what the cheapest place for a shag would be.

I suppose when you take into account any travel costs the cheapest will usually be the £60 per half hour girl that's closest to you!

[petermisc]

It's a shame it's all complete bollocks. I've often thought what the cheapest place for a shag would be.
I suppose when you take into account any travel costs the cheapest will usually be the £60 per half hour girl that's closest to you!

At one time, when the pound was riding high and you could get flights at bargain-basement prices, it was worthwhile to fly to somewhere like Prague for a week.  Nowadays, with a weak pound and rising airfares, you would need to pack in a lot of punting to recoup your costs.

[Analist]

If it's done right and uses local knowledge of  a fair hourly price it could be interesting. Many countries have a UK Punting equivalent where you'd find this information accurately unless you're the typical lazy researcher relying on unreliable sources.
The luxury purchase equivalent of The Ecocomist magazine's Big Mac index. Where in the world is a burger cheap and a prostitute expensive? Or vice versa?

[Marmalade]

If it's done right and uses local knowledge of  a fair hourly price it could be interesting. Many countries have a UK Punting equivalent where you'd find this information accurately unless you're the typical lazy researcher relying on unreliable sources.
The luxury purchase equivalent of The Ecocomist magazine's Big Mac index. Where in the world is a burger cheap and a prostitute expensive? Or vice versa?

I was thinking of the big mac index as well. Of course that's a standard product, so more indicative, whereas it would be hard to define a standard p4p. Even just the countries I know of, the figures look way out. But I don't try sourcing stuff online like that.