Around three million women are engaged in commercial sex work in India, a 50 percent rise from 1997, according to a new report released Wednesday.
Over 60 percent of those trafficked into sex work are adolescent girls in the age group of 12 to 16 years. More than 35 percent girls in India enter commercial sex activity before reaching 18 years.
India has three lakh brothels in 1,100 identified red-light areas, housing nearly five million children in addition to commercial sex workers, the report by philanthropic foundation Dasra, the Hummingbird Trust and Kamonohashi Project said.
More than 25 percent women in commercial sex activity in India are in Maharashtra (14.20 percent) and West Bengal (13 percent), the report said.