If you’ve been paying for it … you’re probably not alone. Unless you’ve been spending a lot of money for intimate company.
Havocscope, a research group dedicated to collecting and analysing data on global black market information, has released figures that estimate Malaysia’s illegal prostitution industry as being worth USD963 million, or RM3.2 billion. The figure puts Malaysia at #17 out of 26 nations with the highest revenues from prostitution, ahead of countries like the Netherlands (where prostitution is actually legal), Russia and Jamaica.
Prostitution is the country’s market leader in illicit trade, with counterfeiting coming in second at a value of RM2.51 billion and software piracy at third with a value of RM2.14 billion. Rounding off the top five black market activities are alcohol and cigarette smuggling (RM1.52 billion) and illegal fishing (RM1.08 billion).
According to Havocscope, the global black market is currently estimated to be worth an astounding USD1.78 trillion, or RM5.8 trillion. Malaysia’s ill-gotten gains might seem like a dribble in the grand scheme of things, but it’s probably a good idea for the authorities to start clamping down on our homegrown black market before things really start getting out of hand.
Are we even counting illegal downloads of Game of Thrones in these statistics?
Photo: Phalinn Ooi / Flickr
Source: The Ant Daily
