Prostitution in Estonia is legal in itself, but organized prostitution is illegal. Since prostitution is a sensitive indicator that develops with changes in the social environment and the state, it is useful to divide the history of this phenomenon from Estonia's first independence according to the different historical stages of the country. Firstly, the period of Estonian independence 1918–1940, when the prostitution in Estonia was legalized. Secondly, the period of the Soviet occupation when prostitution was criminalized. Thirdly, since Estonian new independence when prostitution is neither criminalized nor legalized (that is, the selling of and buying of a sexual service is not a crime but prostitution is not considered a profession either). Period 1918-1940 Legal issues On the first of June 1919, so-called morality guarding, or censoring institution in the bigger cities replaced censoring police. Attitudes to the organization of prostitution derived mainly from health considerations. That was not sufficiently successful and in May 1920, obligatory measures to fight prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases (STD) were issued. Those regulations linked the activities of the “morality guards” to the activities of police, as it was realized that prostitution and criminality were“closely connected’. On 16 December 1927 the Parliament accepted a new law of “Managing Public Health” which handed the fight against prostitution over to the Health and Social Support Department. The police were obliged to give necessary practical help. Statistics Because prostitution was legal in 1918–1940, the data from that period is remarkably precise and allows giving an adequate overview of the phenomenon. The number of prostitutes had been relatively stable throughout that period, showing only a slight increase. For instance, in 1919 and 1920, there were 1187 and 1141 registered prostitutes in Estonian cities, and the number remained the same until the 1930s. Prostitution mainly spread in the greater cities, Tallinn and Tartu, but also in Narva and Pärnu. The proportion in other cities was very modest. There were 387 permanent prostitutes registered in Tallinn in 1920, and 455 in 1940. In Tartu, the numbers were 53 in 1922 and 156 in 1938. There were also illegal, unregistered individual prostitutes of whom there is very little and non-systematic data. In the mid-1920s the number of Estonian hidden prostitutes was estimated to be up to 2000–2500. Police measures were predominantly directed to uncovering and registering this contingent, because unlike the registered prostitutes, neither unofficial prostitute nor their clients went through regular