Is prostitution legal in Canada?
Buying illegal (Nordic model)
Buying sex is illegal under the Swedish approach, while selling is not criminalized.
Canada is one of 10 countries classified “Buying illegal (Nordic model)” for sex work — 5% of the 219 with data. (Also searched as prostitution.)
Source
- Taken from
- Wikipedia: Prostitution in the Americas
- Last checked
- 17 September 2026
- How it was classified
- Classified by a language model from the source text, then checked against hand-verified reference countries.
Nearby countries
- United States
- Varies by region Prostitution is illegal in every US state except parts of Nevada, where licensed brothels operate in some counties.
- Greenland
- Illegal Selling sex is explicitly stated to be illegal in Greenland.
- Bermuda
- Decriminalized / unregulated Selling sex is legal, but related activities like running a brothel are illegal.
- Iceland
- Buying illegal (Nordic model) Buying sex is a crime, but selling sex is not criminalized.
- Bahamas
- Decriminalized / unregulated Selling sex is legal, but brothel keeping and solicitation are prohibited.
- Mexico
- Varies by region Prostitution laws differ by state, with some regulating and others prohibiting it.
Other laws in Canada
- Same-Sex Marriage
- Marriage legal
- Same-Sex Activity
- Legal
- Age of Consent
- 16–17
- Divorce
- Heavily restricted
- Non-Binary Recognition
- Recognized
- Same-Sex Adoption
- Joint adoption legal
- Incest Laws
- Criminal offense
- Marriage Age
- 18+
A visual reference compiled from Wikipedia’s law-by-country articles, not legal advice. Laws change and summaries simplify — check a primary source before relying on anything here.