Which countries currently allow production of pornography with participants younger than 18 and how have those laws changed over time?
Executive summary
Most countries prohibit the production of sexually explicit material involving persons under 18, but international reporting and datasets show important gaps, variation in definitions (age of “child,” treatment of simulated/fictive material), and a minority of jurisdictions that historically lacked or weakly enforced specific prohibitions—meaning that, in practice, production with participants under 18 has been possible or tacitly tolerated in some places until laws were changed or enforcement increased [1] [2] [3].
1. What “allow” actually means: legal prohibition, definitional gaps, and enforcement gaps
Saying a country “allows” production of pornography featuring those under 18 requires unpacking three things: whether statutory law explicitly permits it (rare to none in modern statute books), whether criminal law defines and bans “child pornography,” and whether enforcement and practical protections exist; sources emphasize that most countries now criminalize child pornography but that definitions and penalties vary widely and many countries historically lacked precise definitions or possession offences [1] [2] [3].
2. The global norm: criminalization but important heterogeneity
Authoritative surveys and syntheses report that child pornography is illegal in the majority of jurisdictions, but that substantial variation exists in definitions (who counts as a “child,” whether fictional or virtual depictions are covered) and in which acts are criminalized (production, distribution, possession) [1] [2]. International instruments and model laws have pushed many states to adopt specific prohibitions, yet implementation remains uneven [1] [3].
3. Countries and regions with historical loopholes or weak regimes
Research summarized by ICMEC and academic reviews finds that, as of mid‑decade reports, a non‑trivial set of countries—particularly across parts of sub‑Saharan Africa, some states in Asia and Latin America, and small or post‑colonial jurisdictions—either lacked specific child‑pornography statutes or had laws with large loopholes (for example, not defining “child pornography” or excluding generated images) [2] [4]. Secondary sources and compilations from the 1980s–2010s also documented that some European countries once known as production sources (notably Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands) saw domestic legal change and enforcement crackdowns after public controversy [5].
4. How laws have changed over time: tightening definitions and expanding coverage
The trend documented across academic and policy work is toward convergence: countries that formerly did not define “child pornography” or criminalize possession moved to adopt more detailed statutes, and newer instruments addressed digital forms and virtual images; the ICMEC‑based mapping showed many states adding legislation during the 2000s–2010s, though dozens still lacked full coverage as recently as mid‑2010s [2] [1]. Historical case studies show reputational pressure and transnational policing forced traditional production centers to clamp down in the late 20th and early 21st centuries [5].
5. Where reporting is unclear or contested
Some commercial or advocacy sites assert that dozens of countries “do not have any laws against child porn” or give round counts (for example, “about 53 countries”), but those claims are not corroborated by the policy reviews and academic mappings in the provided reporting and may reflect different cut‑offs or dated surveys; the authoritative literature emphasizes variation in definitions as much as a binary legal/illegal split [6] [2]. Publicly collated maps and databases (ChartsBin, Statista summaries) illustrate national differences but rely on older source material and should be read as snapshots rather than definitive present‑day legal status [7] [8].
6. Alternative viewpoints, incentives and gaps in the sources
Policymakers and child‑protection advocates frame legal harmonization as urgent because production always entails abuse and long‑term harm, while some libertarian or free‑speech critiques historically argued for narrower criminalization—debates that shaped late 20th‑century policy shifts in Europe and North America [1] [5]. The reporting used here highlights legislative text and global surveys but lacks up‑to‑date, country‑by‑country statutory comparisons; therefore it cannot produce a definitive list of present‑day jurisdictions that “allow” production of sexual material with under‑18s without further, contemporaneous legal research [1] [2].
7. Bottom line
Based on the available sources, there is no modern, mainstream jurisdiction that openly authorizes production of pornography featuring persons under 18 as lawful public policy; instead, a combination of historic loopholes, definitional gaps, weak enforcement, and slow legislative change meant that production occurred or could occur in some places until laws were tightened—especially across the 1990s–2010s—while current authoritative summaries emphasize near‑universal criminalization with important residual heterogeneity [1] [2] [5].