Child pornography has become a big-time business all over the world, all at the expense of children.

Before 1968, it was rare to find actual children featured in pornographic material. At first, pornographers only used young-looking adults to cater to the pedophile market. But by the 1970s, child pornography experienced a boom, particularly in the United States where an estimated 300,000 to 600,000 children under 16 were fielded as models.

To curb the industry's growth, stricter laws were established in the US and Western Europe, forcing pornographers to move their operations to countries with lax laws such as the Philippines.

Today, the advent of the Internet and digital cameras has made child pornography even more pervasive, while making it more difficult for authorities to track the growing number of both pornographers and their victims.

Child prostitution is a kin of child pornography.
According to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, anywhere from 60,000 to 600,000 streetchildren are victims of child prostitution. In fact, the Philippines ranks fourth among countries with the most number of prostituted children. A study by the Psychological Trauma Program of the University of the Philippines notes that prostitution may now be the country's fourth largest source of GNP.

Yet, while some data on child prostitution are available, they may not reflect the potentially even larger number of children being victimized through child pornography.

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