Britain, Italy include drugs and sex in GDP

Plenty of money is spent on illegal drugs and prostitution. The United Kingdom and Italy are now calculating how much.

The British government announced Thursday that paying for drugs and sex adds roughly $16.7 billion a year to the economy. Overall, illegal activites are a 0.7 percent part of the UK economy, according to CNNMoney.

Italy made a similar announcement last week that it would begin measuring narcotics and sex work in its GDP, generating "mafia economy" jokes as the news reached social media.

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