30% of prostitutes believed underage

SEMARANG: About 30 percent of prostitutes in Indonesia are estimated to be underage, an activist has said.

Purwoko, director of the Care About Children Foundation in Surakarta, said yesterday the number of underage prostitutes reached between 150,000 and 170,000 and they earned trillions of rupiah for the industry.

He said many underage women turned to prostitution because of early marriage and economic reasons, and most were elementary school dropouts. (har)