Is prostitution legal in Canada?
Buying illegal (Nordic model)
Prostitution is legal but buying sex is criminalized, following the Swedish model.
Canada is one of 8 countries classified “Buying illegal (Nordic model)” for sex work — 4% of the 219 with data. (Also searched as prostitution.)
Source
- Taken from
- Wikipedia: Prostitution in the Americas
- Last checked
- 7 July 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
- Illegal Prostitution is illegal in Hawaii, with no decriminalization attempt passing in 2017.
- Greenland
- Illegal Prostitution is illegal in Greenland, with no decriminalization since Denmark's 1999 reform.
- Bermuda
- Legal & regulated Prostitution is legal in Bermuda but running brothels is illegal, with entry restrictions for sex workers and street prostitution in Hamilton.
- Iceland
- Buying illegal (Nordic model) Paying for sex is illegal in Iceland while prostitution itself is not, with police lacking resources to enforce the law.
- Bahamas
- Legal & regulated Prostitution is legal but related activities like brothel keeping are prohibited.
- Mexico
- Varies by region Prostitution is legal under federal law but varies by state, with some regulating it and others not.
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.