It was found that 4 out of 10 adult men had purchased sex at least once. As the main reason, many cited "simple curiosity," and it was found that more than half of their partners were foreign women.
Looking at the report "2025 survey on the actual conditions of prostitution" released by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on the 23rd, 37.7% of the 1,500 men surveyed confessed that they had purchased sex at least once in their lifetime.
This figure is much lower than the 50.7% recorded in the 2016 survey 10 years ago or 42.1% in 2019. However, it showed almost no change from the most recent 2022 survey result (37.4%).
The age group at which they first encountered this behavior was highest in the early 20s (20–24) at 45.4%, followed by the late 20s (25–29) at 24.2%. However, the share who said they first experienced it in their early 30s nearly doubled from 9.6% in 2022 to 17.1% in 2025, leading to the analysis that the age at which people first step into prostitution is somewhat later than in the past.
To the question about the reason for first purchasing sex, "out of curiosity" ranked first at 41.7%. Next were ▲ recommendations from peers or workplace seniors and juniors (29.5%) ▲ satisfying sexual desire (26.9%) ▲ ahead of a special occasion such as military enlistment (26.0%). In surveys conducted from 2016 to 2022, the answer "moved as a group after a drinking party such as a company dinner" ranked high, but in the 2025 survey it dropped to fifth.
Those who said they had purchased sex in the past year stood at 8.5%. This, too, is a decline compared with 2016 (20.9%) and 2019 (14.0%). By type, non-penetrative sexual services were 7.8%, and penetrative sexual services were 6.4%. The total number of purchases among those surveyed was 1,422, meaning each user visited an average of about 11.11 times. The places they frequented in the past year were most commonly venues that also operate as entertainment businesses, such as karaoke bars, room salons, and massage shops, at 39.1%, followed by dedicated prostitution establishments like red-light districts or glass rooms at 20.1%, and online channels such as the internet at 7.3%.
In particular, the share who said they met foreign women during prostitution reached 59.7% for non-penetrative services and 52.8% for penetrative services, showing that about 1 in 2 users contacted foreigners. The most common channel through which they learned about establishments was "introductions from friends or acquaintances," at 45.9%.
Only 5.9% admitted they had purchased sex overseas, but 32.0% said someone around them had done so abroad, showing a large gap. This suggests individuals may have concealed or downplayed their own wrongdoing. As for countries visited for overseas sex purchases, Thailand (31.5%) was the most common, followed by Vietnam (28.1%) and the Philippines and China (21.3% each).
In the past three years, 4.6% said they had provided sexual entertainment related to work, while 5.8% said they had received it. Compared with the first survey in 2016, experiences of providing fell 47.1% and of receiving fell 44.8%. In particular, the group that experienced both providing and receiving decreased 56.4%.
Meanwhile, public awareness of legal punishment has grown heavier. The share agreeing that sex buyers should be punished rose sharply from 86.1% in 2016 to 94.0% in 2025, indicating that most adults now clearly recognize sex buying as a criminal act. This survey on actual conditions was conducted from Apr. to Dec. 2025 using online systems, targeting a total of 2,000 people, including 1,500 adult men and 500 women.