The number of minors recorded as victims of prostitution in France has risen by 43 per cent over four years, according to official police and government data.
That has prompted fresh warnings of an “alarming” trend in the sexual exploitation of increasingly young girls.
Figures published by the National Observatory on Violence Against Women (ONVF), under the interdepartmental unit for protecting women against violence and for combating trafficking in human beings (MIPROF) , show that law enforcement recorded 704 minor victims in 2025.
This breaks down into 416 victims of pimping and 288 victims of recourse to prostitution.
The total represents a marked increase from 659 minors in 2024 and a 43 per cent rise since 2021.
Ninety-four per cent of the recorded minor victims are girls.
While no single “typical” profile exists, authorities and associations note that victims are becoming younger on average, with some cases involving girls as young as 12 or 13.
Many are described as vulnerable, often from difficult family backgrounds or in the care of child protection services.
In contrast, the number of adult victims of prostitution-related offences fell by 8 per cent between 2021 and 2025, reaching 880 cases last year.
Officials attribute part of the apparent rise in detected minor cases to improved identification and support for victims by police and associations, rather than solely to an absolute increase in the phenomenon.
The internet and social media platforms, particularly Snapchat and online advertisements, now play a central role, experts said.
According to the French non-profit organisation Amicale du Nid, which supports victims, 86 per cent of the minors it accompanied in 2025 had been contacted by clients at least partly through digital means.
The number of final convictions for pimping, aggravated pimping and related offences has about doubled between 2017 and 2024.
Penalties for clients remain relatively low, though, with 1,442 contraventions issued in 2025, showing significant territorial variations.
Estimates of the overall scale of underage prostitution in France vary.
Some associations and earlier reports have suggested several thousand minors may be affected, with one 2021 government estimate placing the figure between 7,000 and 10,000.
Broader estimates of people in prostitution in France stand at around 40,000.
Unaccompanied foreign minors (MNA) are frequently identified by child protection services and associations as particularly at risk of sexual exploitation.
Many arrive from West African countries such as Guinea, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire.
Reports note that some placed in children’s homes or emergency accommodation have been targeted by pimps, sometimes recruited directly from shelters. Vulnerability is heightened by lack of stable housing, language barriers and limited oversight.
Minister for gender equality Aurore Bergé today described the sexual exploitation of minors in newspaper Le Figaro as “one of the most alarming manifestations” of the prostitution system.
She highlighted the reconfiguration of exploitation towards younger and more vulnerable individuals, with their bodies treated as “a resource to be exploited, controlled and monetised”.
Associations have called for stronger action against both pimps and clients, better interdisciplinary support for victims and education on equality and sexuality.
They stress that the prostitution of minors forms part of a continuum with adult exploitation but with heightened risks.
The rise has occurred despite the 2016 law aimed at combating the prostitution system and supporting exit programmes.
