Strip Club in San Jose, Costa Rica

Prostitution itself is legal in Costa Rica: no law makes it an offence to sell sex, and paying an adult for sex is not a crime. What the Penal Code (Law 4573) punishes is third-party involvement. Anyone who promotes the prostitution of others, induces a person to engage or remain in it, or recruits for it faces two to five years (Art. 169, proxenetismo); four to ten years with aggravating factors such as a victim under 18, deception or violence (Art. 170). Coercively making a sex worker support you is punishable by two to eight years (Art. 171, rufianería). Trafficking for sexual exploitation (Art. 172, six to ten years) has required coercive or deceptive means for adult victims since 2018. Advertising the country as a destination for prostitution carries four to eight years (Art. 162 bis). Paying anyone under 18 for sexual acts carries two to ten years (Art. 160). Source: Prostitution Laws (prostitutionlaws.org), https://prostitutionlaws.org/countries/costa-rica/, reviewed 2026-11-04, CC BY 4.0.