22.5 and 27 billion dollars. Today, Thailand's sex industry services roughly 3 to 5 million regular customers and is worth over 6.4 billion dollars. Patterns of exploitation With regard to sex trafficking of Thai citizens, there are two general scenarios that exist in Thailand. The older scenario is one where an individual is recruited from a village to move to a larger town, where they are forced into the sex industry. Sometimes, they may be transported to a foreign country. A more recent scenario is one in which a person is transported from a village directly to a foreign country. The Foundation for Women found that women in the one-step direct recruitment pattern are more likely to be exposed to harsher forms of sexual exploitation. Once a person is transported to the destination country, they are forced into prostitution, sometimes serving locals and sometimes sex tourists, depending on the location. In Thailand, local women, men, and children are trafficked into other countries, especially wealthier Asian countries. It is estimated that 100,000 to 200,000 Thai females work in a variety of overseas venues where sex is sold. The number of trafficked Thai females in Japan alone is between 50,000 and 70,000. Most of these females are between the ages of 12 and 16 and are sent to brothels in the destination country. Trafficking in Thailand is not limited to Thai citizens; many migrants from other countries are trafficked into Thailand to work in the Thai sex industry. In recent years, there have been numerous cases of Burmese, Cambodians, and Lao trafficked into Thai brothels in northern provinces such as Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, central and eastern provinces such as Trat, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Chonburi, and Chumphon, and Songkhla, Narathiwat, and Pattani near the southern Malaysian border. More than 80,000 people have been sold into the Thai sex industry since 1990. The majority of sex workers in Thailand are foreigners and more than 60% of females entering the country to work in the sex industry are under the age of 18. There are 75,000 prostituted children in Thailand. This includes both children trafficked into Thailand and local children. Suspected causes Academics and experts alike are unable to agree on one specific cause for people entering the sex industry through trafficking, but rather cite multiple economic and cultural factors. Economic causes The economy of Thailand is considered one of the driving