Singapore, Republic of Singapore: prostitution is a legal business within the city’s scattered Designated Red Light Areas. Escort services advertise in the phone book. The police will take action against prostitutes who solicit customers in public and pimps who force women into prostitution. Brothels and massage parlors where sex can take place are legal in the designated areas. The pragmatic approach of the government in regulating the sex trade rather than attempting to eradicate it seems to have been organically created after the separation from Malaysia in 1965.
Cologne, Germany: home to the largest brothel in Europe, Cologne, like most major cities in Germany allows escort services, brothels, pimps and prostitutes to exist legally. The date of legalization is disputed but most consider the Green Party’s law enacted in 2002 to be the beginning of legal prostitution. Prostitutes generally sell sex from a room they rent by the day in what is known as the Eros centers. There is no connection between the prostitutes and the owners of the rooms they rent.
Montreal, Canada: the act of prostitution is legal but pimping or living off the avails of prostitution is not. Public soliciting of clients by the prostitutes themselves is also illegal. Escort services are legal as is print advertisement of such businesses. This is true all over Canada. This legalization of prostitution has been in place in Canada since the 19th century.
Amsterdam, Netherlands: prostitution is legal in all forms, escort agencies, brothels, street solicitation, window and club prostitutes also. Throughout the 20th century, prostitution has been tolerated in the Netherlands. Since 2006, the government has made an effort to reduce the size and activities of its Red Light District in order to regain control of it.
Mexico City, Mexico: prostitution is legal in Mexico City itself but not in every part of Mexico. Escort agencies openly advertise here. Prostitutes are regulated and given health checks. Public solicitation is not legal but there are Red Light Districts here. Brothels and clubs are not legal places to engage in prostitution. The push towards regulating prostitutes came in 2007.
Budapest, Hungary: prostitution is legal and regulated here. Prostitutes are legal workers who pay taxes and have a trade union. Advertisement of prostitute services is illegal, but escort services openly advertise anyway. The sex trade has been regulated since 1999.
Caracas, Venezuela: prostitution is legal and regulated here. The criminal code interdicts coercion and involvement of minors, otherwise the commercial sex trade is thriving here. This has been the case since at least 2005.
Auckland, New Zealand: prostitution is legal and regulated here if you are over 18 years old and a citizen of New Zealand or Australia. Pimping and brothels are permitted. Escort services are legal. The Prostitution Reform Act of 2003 made this change.
Zurich, Switzerland: prostitution, brothels and escort services are legal. Pimping is not. Without restrictions barring the way, the number of operating prostitutes in Zurich is the highest per capita of any industrialized country. The law making it legal has been in effect since 1942.
Vienna, Austria: regulated since 1975, prostitution is legal and has been generally accepted for since the 19th century. Prostitutes can quietly run an escort service here without problem. Brothels exist in a sort of gray area. Pimping is no longer legal.