Whether or not Prostitution is legal in a country is quite a superficial question. The subject of Prostitution is more like an onion; there are numerous layers to it. Exceptions are to be made and unsaid rules are to be followed in spite of the laws in place. Each country has a different set of laws and cultural boundaries that determine how the country and their societies look at prostitution.

In India, we do not appreciate prostitution (or do we?), but it is not completely illegal. Getting paid for sexual favors is not seen as prostitution by the Indian Penal Code and people can indulge in sex for whatever reasons that suit them. The social relaxation being: one cannot do it in a public place or in a 200-yard radius of a public place. Related activities that are not legal according to the Indian Law are: (source)

• Soliciting sexual services at public places.
• Carrying out commercial sex activities in Hotels.
• Kerb crawling.
• Pandering.
• Being an owner of a brothel or running one.
• Pimping.

In a nutshell, “The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, does not criminalize prostitution or prostitutes per se; but it does punish acts of third-party facilitation of prostitution, like brothel-keeping, living on the earnings of prostitutes or procuring a person for the sake of prostitution… So long as prostitution itself is not a crime, the individual act of a girl who offers her services on phone cannot be prohibited. If a call-girl does not parade her charms in the public, or indulge in soliciting or in other prohibited acts of like nature, she cannot be held guilty.”, says procondotorg.

List of Countries with their Prostitution law status.

As said earlier, categorizing the countries of the world in an aforementioned subdivision (legal or illegal) is not the final answer to the vastness of this question. This page will be updated regularly with detailed information about laws of each country with a better grip on the understanding of how these laws vary from country to country.

References:

• 100 Countries and Their Prostitution Policies

• PROSTITUTE OR SEX WORKER? WHY LEGALIZING PROSTITUTION IS NO PANACEA

• Legalising Prostitution in India

Cover image : mapsoftheworld.com