# PRESS RELEASE

**For immediate release, September 2026**

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# PROSTITUTION IS WORTH ABOUT £2.9 BILLION A YEAR TO THE UK ECONOMY, LESS THAN HALF THE OFFICIAL FIGURE

## Official statistics put it at £6.7 billion, based on a 2004 count of London adverts, a client review website and the idea that every sex worker sees 25 clients a week. Erobella has rebuilt the estimate with a 2025 headcount and data from 30,000 live listings.

Prostitution has been part of UK GDP since 2014, when EU rules made every member state count it. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) puts household spending on it at £6.66 billion in 2025. That's 0.22% of GDP, and more than households spend at the dentist.

New analysis by Erobella's Data & Research team shows how that figure is made, and what happens when its inputs are brought up to date. The answer is **about £2.9 billion a year**, with a likely range of £1.6 billion to £5.7 billion. The full analysis, with a calculator for readers to build their own estimate, is at [erobella.com/research/sex-work-gdp](https://erobella.com/research/sex-work-gdp/).

**The official figure isn't a measurement.** The ONS multiplies four assumptions together. It starts with about 58,000 sex workers in 2004, based on a charity ringing round London adverts. It assumes each one sees 25 clients a week for 40 weeks a year, and charges £55 a visit. That price was taken from Punternet, a website where clients review sex workers. The ONS itself calls one of these assumptions "weak".

Brought up to 2025, the model says about 68,500 sex workers each see 1,000 clients a year and take £97,000. Surveys find half of sex workers earn under £20,000.

## Key findings

- **Prostitution is worth about £2.9 billion a year to the UK**, on Erobella's central estimate. The low case is £1.6 billion and the high case £5.7 billion. The official figure of £6.66 billion is 2.3 times higher.
- **That's still big business.** £2.9 billion is more than Greggs' sales, which were £2.15 billion in 2025, or Netflix's UK revenue of £2.06 billion. The official figure is about the same as Greggs, Wetherspoon and Netflix UK put together.
- **The official numbers don't add up.** They imply 68 million paid visits a year, or 2.6 for every adult man in the UK. Around nine in ten men say they've never paid for sex. The ONS reference list cites Punternet's Wikipedia page.
- **Erobella kept the ONS formula and updated the inputs.** It used 102,000 sex workers from Erobella's 2025 headcount study, 6 clients a week based on surveys of sex workers, the same 40 weeks, and £120 a visit based on advertised prices.
- **The new figure matches what sex workers say they earn.** It works out at £28,800 a year each, before costs. Surveys find half earn under £20,000 and one in ten earn £50,000 or more.
- **An hour costs £140.** That's the typical advertised price for an hour across 7,052 UK listings on Erobella that show one. A half-hour costs £80, two hours £260 and a night £1,000. It's about £40 more if the sex worker travels to the client.
- **Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, and Hammersmith and Fulham are the most expensive areas, at £200 an hour.** Leicester, Coventry, Sheffield, Hull, Derby and Milton Keynes are among the cheapest, at £120.
- **London has 29% of all listings.** It has 94 listings for every 100,000 people, more than twice the UK average of 43. Northern Ireland, where paying for sex has been a crime since 2015, has 20. Wales has 23.
- **London's share is worth about £914 million a year**, when our estimate is shared out by where listings are and what they charge. The North West's share is £318 million, the South East's £305 million, Scotland's £190 million and Wales's £78 million.
- **Midnight is the busiest hour.** Of 8.2 million views of UK listings in the past year, 6.1% came between midnight and 1am. Just over a quarter came between 10pm and 3am.
- **Most listings are young women, and many are from abroad.** The median advertised age is 26.7, and 83% of listings are women. Of the listings that give a nationality, 28% say Brazil and 23% the UK.
- **The UK's biggest adult business has 47 employees.** The company behind OnlyFans, which is registered in London, took $7.84 billion from fans worldwide in the year to November 2025. It made $715 million before tax and paid its owner $535 million in dividends. None of this is in the ONS prostitution figure.
- **The UK counts more of it than most countries.** Italy records 0.19% of GDP and the Netherlands 0.08%. France won't count street prostitution, saying coerced sex isn't a transaction. The US, Canada and Australia leave it out.

## Six ways to size prostitution in the UK

| Estimate | £ billion a year | How it's worked out |
|---|---|---|
| Erobella low case | 1.6 | 102,000 workers, 4 clients a week, 40 weeks, £100 a visit |
| **Erobella central** | **2.9** | **102,000 workers, 6 clients a week, 40 weeks, £120 a visit** |
| Model for the ONS, 2015 | 5.1 | 72,800 workers on full-time hours |
| Erobella high case | 5.7 | 102,000 workers, 10 clients a week, 40 weeks, £140 a visit |
| ONS, 2025 | 6.66 | 2004 count grown with the male population, 25 clients a week |
| ONS method with Erobella's headcount | 9.9 | 102,000 workers, 25 clients a week, 40 weeks, £97 a visit |

## The price of an hour, by area

| Council area | Live listings | Hour, client visits | Hour, sex worker travels |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westminster | 1,868 | £200 | £268 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 490 | £200 | £300 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 215 | £200 | £300 |
| Tower Hamlets | 574 | £160 | £220 |
| Camden | 466 | £160 | £200 |
| Liverpool | 626 | £150 | £180 |
| Edinburgh | 369 | £150 | £200 |
| Cardiff | 347 | £150 | £180 |
| Belfast | 289 | £150 | not enough data |
| Birmingham | 1,274 | £140 | £180 |
| Manchester | 939 | £140 | £180 |
| Glasgow | 644 | £140 | £200 |
| Leeds | 630 | £140 | £180 |
| Bristol | 407 | £140 | £180 |
| Nottingham | 383 | £130 | £180 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 352 | £130 | £180 |
| Brighton and Hove | 300 | £130 | £180 |
| Leicester | 452 | £120 | £170 |
| Coventry | 322 | £120 | not enough data |
| Sheffield | 317 | £120 | £165 |

*Median advertised prices on Erobella on 26 September 2026, where at least 40 listings give a price. All 60 areas are at [erobella.com/research/sex-work-gdp/#price](https://erobella.com/research/sex-work-gdp/#price).*

## Where it happens

| Region | Live listings | Per 100,000 people | Hour, client visits | Share of our estimate, £m a year | Views per listing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 8,573 | 94 | £150 | 914 | 104 |
| North West | 3,199 | 41 | £140 | 318 | 230 |
| South East | 3,301 | 34 | £130 | 305 | 204 |
| West Midlands | 2,786 | 45 | £130 | 257 | 135 |
| East of England | 2,413 | 37 | £130 | 223 | 116 |
| Scotland | 1,913 | 35 | £140 | 190 | 361 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 2,035 | 36 | £130 | 188 | 276 |
| South West | 1,946 | 33 | £135 | 187 | 421 |
| East Midlands | 1,818 | 36 | £120 | 155 | 232 |
| North East | 864 | 31 | £130 | 80 | 334 |
| Wales | 735 | 23 | £150 | 78 | 316 |
| Northern Ireland | 383 | 20 | £150 | 41 | 112 |

*The share of our estimate divides the £2.9 billion by each region's share of listings and its median hourly price. It's an estimate, not a regional measurement. Views cover the 12 months to 26 September 2026.*

## Comment

Brenda Jensen, Head of Data & Research at Erobella, said:

> "The official figure isn't a measurement. It's four assumptions multiplied together, and three of them date from 2004. Put in what sex workers actually tell researchers about their week, and the number falls by more than half.
>
> "That doesn't make it small. Nearly three billion pounds is still more than Greggs takes in a year. But the official figure has been counting every sex worker as if they saw a thousand clients a year, and that's never been true. The ONS updates its figures on 30 September and 30 October. Both are a chance to look again."

## Notes to editors

1. **The official figure.** ONS Consumer Trends, series MNC8, "12.2 Prostitution". This is household spending at current prices: £6,655 million in 2025, £6,403 million in 2024, £5,993 million in 2019 and £4,130 million in 2020. It was released on 30 June 2026. The next update, for April to June 2026, is on 30 September 2026. Blue Book 2026 is due on 30 October 2026. The share of GDP uses ONS series YBHA, £3,033,866 million in 2025.
2. **How the ONS works it out.** Abramsky and Drew, "Changes to National Accounts: Inclusion of Illegal Drugs and Prostitution in the UK National Accounts", ONS, 29 May 2014. The paper sets out the method as "No. of active prostitutes (Eaves) x No of client episodes per week (Smekens & Verbruggen) x 52 x Average Charge Per Client (Punternet)". The headcount grows in line with the number of men aged 16 and over, which the paper calls "a weak assumption". The 52 weeks became 40 in Blue Book 2016. The 2025 figures for the ONS model are Erobella's own sums, based on those assumptions, ONS population figures and the 2025 total. They are 68,500 workers, £97 a visit, 68 million visits a year and £97,000 per worker.
3. **Erobella's estimate.** It uses the same formula with 2025 inputs.
   - **Workers:** 102,000, from "Estimating the Total Number of Sex Workers in the United Kingdom" by Weitzer, Bennett, Jensen, Macioti, Yang, Kiki and Shave. It was published as a preprint in August 2025 and summarised at [erobella.com/lust/en/numbers-sex-work-in-the-uk](https://erobella.com/lust/en/numbers-sex-work-in-the-uk/). It combines earlier estimates and gives a range of 75,000 to 130,000. Erobella's Head of Data & Research is a co-author.
   - **Clients a week:** 6 in the central case, 4 low and 10 high. In the NUM and University of Leeds survey of 240 sex workers who find clients online, in 2015, 76% saw 1 to 10 clients a week. In the Beyond the Gaze survey of 641 sex workers in 2016 and 2017, 54% spent 10 paid hours a week or less with clients.
   - **Weeks:** 40, the same as the ONS.
   - **Price:** £120 central, £100 low and £140 high. The sources are Erobella's listings, a 2022 study of AdultWork by Yasseri, Sanders and others, which found a median of £120, and street prices of £20 to £40 from Brooks-Gordon and others in 2015.
   - **Result:** 102,000 × 6 × 40 × £120 = £2.94 billion. Like the ONS figure, this is spending on in-person sexual services. It isn't sex workers' income after costs, and it leaves out the legal online adult industry.
4. **Checks against the headcount study.** The study's gender mix is 73.5% women, 19.4% men and 3% trans. Weighting Erobella's prices by that mix gives £133 an hour and £75 a half-hour, either side of the £120 used. The study puts 35% to 40% of sex workers in London and the South East. Those regions have 39.6% of Erobella's listings.
5. **Erobella's listing data.** These are totals from 30,014 live UK listings on Erobella on 26 September 2026. 7,052 show a price for an hour and 8,603 show some hourly price. No individual listing is identified. Prices are asking prices, mostly from people working for themselves, so they reflect the upper half of the market rather than parlours or the street. Areas are matched from each listing's location. Listings per 100,000 people use ONS mid-2025 population estimates, and mid-2024 for Northern Ireland. Age, gender and nationality are what people choose to say. Views, 8,202,639 over the 12 months to 26 September 2026, are counted per view, not per person.
6. **Comparisons.** Greggs total sales were £2,151 million in the 52 weeks to 27 December 2025. Netflix Services UK revenue was £2,056 million in 2025, from its Companies House accounts. J D Wetherspoon revenue was £2,128 million in the year to 27 July 2025. ONS Consumer Trends for 2025 records £10.26 billion on hairdressing and grooming, £6.64 billion on vets and pet services, £6.63 billion on beer bought in shops, £6.25 billion on dental services, £4.20 billion on books, £3.77 billion on newspapers and £3.06 billion on illegal drugs. Other figures: Premier League clubs' revenue £6.8 billion in 2024-25 (Deloitte), tobacco duty £7.57 billion in 2025-26 (HMRC), BBC licence fee income £3.88 billion in 2025-26, NHS dentistry in England £3.11 billion in 2023-24 (NAO), UK cinema box office £997 million in 2025 (BFI) and fish landed by UK boats £1.16 billion in 2024 (MMO).
7. **OnlyFans.** Fenix International Ltd, Companies House number 10354575. Its group accounts for the year to 30 November 2025 were filed on 20 September 2026. They show fan payments of $7,843 million, revenue of $1,553 million, profit before tax of $715 million, a tax charge of $193 million and tax paid of $205 million. Dividends were $535 million in the year, with $174 million declared afterwards. The company had 47 employees, 5.06 million creator accounts and 437 million fan accounts, and $347 million of revenue from the UK and Europe. Leonid Radvinsky died on 20 March 2026. A 16% stake was reported sold to Architect Capital in May 2026 for $535 million.
8. **Tax.** HMRC Business Income Manual BIM65001, based on CIR v Aken (1990), and VAT manual VATSC30110, based on Polok (2002). Income tax and Class 4 National Insurance in 2025-26, with a £12,570 personal allowance, 20% basic rate and 6% Class 4, come to £1,932 on £20,000 of profit, £5,832 on £35,000 and £9,732 on £50,000. VAT at 20% on £6.66 billion would be £1.33 billion if added on top, or £1.11 billion if already in the price.
9. **Other countries.** Istat, Italy, October 2025: €4.8 billion household spending and €4.1 billion value added in 2023. CBS, Netherlands, May 2024: €0.7 billion value added in 2021. INE, Spain, 2014: 0.35% of GDP in 2010. SCB, Sweden: SEK 520 million in 2006. INSEE, France, and the French government's answer to parliamentary question 5437, March 2018. Destatis, Germany, WISTA 2/2015. BEA, United States, 2020 working paper. The full list is on the page.
10. **Critics quoted on the page.** Sir David Spiegelhalter, The Conversation, 27 October 2014. Brooke Magnanti, The Baffler, 9 June 2014.
11. **Limits.** The 102,000 headcount combines earlier estimates rather than making a new count. It includes people who work part time or now and then, which is why the number of clients matters and why we give a range. Listing prices come from one site, mostly from independent sex workers. The regional figures share out a national estimate. None of this measures coercion or trafficking. National accounts only count deals both sides agree to, and so does this model. The full method is at [erobella.com/research/sex-work-gdp/#method](https://erobella.com/research/sex-work-gdp/#method).
12. **Sources and licence.** Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Erobella's dataset is free to download as CSV and JSON at [erobella.com/research/sex-work-gdp/#press](https://erobella.com/research/sex-work-gdp/#press) under CC BY 4.0. It covers the ONS series, the model inputs, prices by region and council area, and the comparisons.
13. **Reuse.** All findings, tables and charts are free to publish in print or online with a credit to **Erobella** and, online, a link to [erobella.com/research/sex-work-gdp](https://erobella.com/research/sex-work-gdp/). The page includes a calculator so readers can build their own estimate.
14. **About Erobella.** Erobella is the UK's fastest growing adult website and a progressive brand. Its Data & Research team publishes original studies on sex, sexuality and sexual health, including its annual survey of sex-worker wellbeing, the Liberal Cities Index, Out on Campus (an index of LGBTQ+ inclusion at more than 1,700 US colleges) and the Sex Work Statistics series. All are free to read at [erobella.com/research](https://erobella.com/research/).

**Press contact:** Dara Weston, PR Manager, Erobella: [dara@erobella.com](mailto:dara@erobella.com)

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