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The debt crisis and move to harsher austerity imposed by the European Union is affecting some of the most vulnerable people in Greek society--especially sex workers, according to a new study.

Greek sex workers are now selling their services for the lowest rate in the entire European Union.

The three-year study compiled data from more than 17,000 sex workers in Greece and concluded that by and large the Eastern European women who used to make up the majority of sex workers in the country have been pushed out due to falling prices. What’s left is an industry, legal in Greece, that leaves overwhelmingly young and vulnerable Greek women fighting supply and demand with no representation.

Vox produced a graphic that shows among other illegal trades, the main sources and routes of female trafficking in 2010.

Before the current financial crisis that has left a record 27.89 percent of Greek workers unemployed, with youth unemployment at rates as high as 60 percent, the average price for sex with a prostitute was approximately $53. Today, the study shows, a thirty minute rate has lowered to just $2.12. The industry drives nearly $638 million in sales annually with more women joining everyday as other employment opportunities dry up.

Despite its legality many brothels are unlicensed and women in compromised positions find themselves with few options. Speaking to the London Times, Gregory Lazos, a professor of sociology at Panteion University in Athens and lead author of the research said “Some women just do it for a cheese pie, or a sandwich they need to eat because they are hungry,” adding “Others [do it] to pay taxes, bills, for urgent expenses or a quick [drug] fix.”

Lazos has been researching prostitution in Greece for many years and has previously published two extensive volumes on the topic.

The trend toward cheaper prostitution is worldwide, with the accessibility of internet sex services and ubiquitous financial insecurity, but Greece is experiencing it the worst.

“Most worrying,” Lazos told the London Times, “is it doesn’t look like these numbers will fade; rather they are growing at a steady and consistent pace.”

The choice a woman makes to go into prostitution is by and large not one of ideology but the promise of gainful employment. But in countries where the trade is strongly regulated, workers are in less danger of violence or sexually transmitted diseases. Because only 10 brothels in Greece are sanctioned, the majority of prostitutes go directly to the streets, exacerbating the problem and putting them at risk of harm.

It is apparent in the study that if women had a better employment option, they would refrain from the sex trade. There is a growing number of peripheral workers--women according to Mr. Lazos “who drift in and out of the trade, depending on their needs...”

Lazos added “the total number of female prostitutes is startling...Greek women now dominate 80 percent of the trade.”

Lazos called for reform or action from the government, urging “State authorities, police and health officials [to]...finally act rather than continuing to remain indifferent.”