Is prostitution legal in New Zealand?
Legal & regulated
Prostitution is fully legal and regulated in New Zealand, including brothels and solicitation.
New Zealand is one of 61 countries classified “Legal & regulated” for sex work — 28% of the 219 with data. (Also searched as prostitution.)
Source
- Taken from
- Wikipedia: Prostitution in Oceania
- 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
- Norfolk Island
- Legal & regulated Prostitution is legal and regulated in Norfolk Island, following New South Wales laws.
- New Caledonia
- Buying illegal (Nordic model) New Caledonia follows the Nordic model, criminalizing the purchase of sex while selling remains legal.
- Tonga
- Legal & regulated Selling sex is legal, while soliciting and brothel keeping are forbidden.
- Fiji
- Legal & regulated Prostitution is legal in Fiji, but most connected activities like brothel keeping and public solicitation are illegal.
- Vanuatu
- Illegal Selling sex is a criminal offense in Vanuatu.
- Niue
- Illegal Selling sex is a criminal offense under the Niue Act 1966.
Other laws in New Zealand
- 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.