Shocking numbers: Hungarians spend a lot of money on prostitutes
Hungary is among the top 5 EU countries regarding who spends the most on prostitutes. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people’s spending on these special services dropped drastically in Hungary. Now, it has been showing a growing tendency again.
How much does an average Hungarian spend on prostitutes?
As Pénzcentrum reported, according to Eurostat’s freshest data from 2022, the Hungarian population spent HUF 153 billion (EUR 391 million) on prostitutes in a year. Therefore, the average Hungarian spent over HUF 15,800 (EUR 41.3) on these services last year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the year 2020 was horrible for the business. According to the data, people spent 80% less on prostitutes in that year. However, there has been a growing tendency from 2021. Thus, it is very likely that the numbers will soon overtake the ones before the pandemic.
EU ranking
As mentioned above, Hungarians spent EUR 391 million on prostitutes last year, this number puts the country in fourth place in the EU ranking. Portugal is third on the list with a yearly spending of EUR 751 million. Greece takes the second place with EUR 1009 million. Meanwhile, the highest spending is in Belgium, where people paid EUR 1159 million for these services in 2022. Hungary is followed by Luxembourg on the list with EUR 302 million.
Lithuania, Slovakia, Czechia and Romania are in the middle section of the ranking. Among the countries with the lowest numbers are Latvia, Malta and Estonia. Just for reference, Estonia is last on the list with less than EUR 6 million. Thus, these nations spent significantly less on prostitutes. It is highly important to note that not all EU countries provided data on the matter, so some countries are not featured on the list at all.
As we wrote, a recent survey has also revealed that a record number of Hungarians study abroad.
Is prostitution legal in Hungary?
It may come as surprising to some, but prostitution is in fact legal in Hungary under certain rules and restrictions. For example, just as any other worker, prostitutes have to pay taxes too. Dívány notes that there are harsh limitations on where sex workers can work. They cannot roam the streets just anywhere. There can be designated zones that the local governments choose. Although, if there is no such zone, sex workers still have to keep a few rules in mind. For example, they can only wait for their clients 300 metres from public establishments, 100 metres from highways, and 50 metres from main roads. We have recently reported HERE that some citizens in Budapest have complaints about undercover brothels.
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