Prostitution in Spain is not addressed by any specific law, but a number of activities related to it, such as pimping , are illegal. In , UNAIDS estimated there to be 70, prostitutes in the country, [ 1 ] although other estimates put the number higher.
Most prostitutes in the country are immigrants. Prostitution was decriminalized in Prostitution itself is not directly addressed in the Criminal Code of Spain , but exploitation such as pimping is illegal. Whoever causes a person of legal age to engage in prostitution or to continue to do so, with the use of violence, intimidation or deception, or by abusing a position of power or the dependency or vulnerability of the victim, shall be punished with a prison sentence of two to four years and a fine from 12 to 24 months.
Gaining profit from the prostitution of another shall incur the same penalty, even with the consent of that person. Owning an establishment where prostitution takes place is in itself legal, but the owner cannot derive financial gain from the prostitute or hire a person to sell sex because prostitution is not considered a job and thus has no legal recognition.
Prostitution in Spain is less regulated than in many European countries. However, the advertising of prostitution has been made illegal and in a bill was put forward in the Spanish Parliament proposing the criminalisation of brothel-owning and pimping regardless of whether exploitation or abuse is involved, as well as criminalising the customers of prostitutes. The maximum sentence proposed is four years.
The bill is supported by the governing Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. Street protests against the bill took place in Madrid in September Local governments differ in their approaches to both indoor and outdoor prostitution, usually in response to community pressure groups, and based on "public safety". Some places have implemented fines for street prostitution. As part of the state of alarm due to the COVID pandemic in Spain , all brothels and other places of entertainment were ordered to close.
