In 1999, Sweden made the buying of sexual services illegal, but not the actual selling as a means of protecting the workers and making gender equality more readily attainable in their society. This has had the result of drastically lessening their country's rates of prostitution and sex trafficking. The Swedish government has been estimated that since then, only 200-400 girls and women are trafficked into the country annually, compared to 15,000-17,000 in Finland. However, as with most things in life, this has not been without its consequences.