Prostitution in Singapore in itself is not illegal, but various prostitution-related activities are criminalized. This includes public solicitation, living on the earnings of a prostitute and maintaining a brothel.
In practice, police unofficially tolerate and monitor a limited number of brothels. Prostitutes in such establishments are required to undergo periodic health checks and must carry a health card.
The rapid economic development of Singapore in the late nineteenth century combined with the city's gender imbalance the male population greatly outnumbered the female [2] resulted in prostitution becoming a flourishing business and brothels a boom industry.
Prostitution was seen by the colonial authorities as a necessary evil [2] but a number of steps were taken to place restrictions on prostitution in the city. The registration of prostitutes and brothels was made compulsory in an attempt to prevent forced prostitution , and an Office to Protect Virtue was set up to help anyone unwillingly involved in prostitution.
A report described the misery and indecency of the prostitutes working in the red-light districts around Malay Street and Smith Street, and pressure was placed on the Colonial Office in Britain to further restrict licensed prostitution.
