Pilgrim stats

[sillydoll]

The Pilgrim Office has not had time to post all the stats for April and May on the website but they report that they have had record numbers of pilgrims for May.

2006 2007 2008
March 1.093 1.680 5.327
April 7.438 8.112 5.655
May 9.992 12.898 15.983

In 2007 they celebrated Holy Week (Easter) during the month of April, but this year it was in March. That is why they received 5327 pilgrims during the month of March this year compared with 1680 pilgrims received in March 2007.

It will be interesting to see the June numbers.

 

[sillydoll]

April & May Stats

In April 5,655 pilgrims received certificates in Santiago. (8,112 in April of 2007 when Holy Week fell in April)
3,402 were males and 2,253 females.
4,825 walkers 824 cyclists, 5 on horseback and one went in a wheelchair.
1,567 of the pilgrims were under 30, 2,994 were between 30 and 60 and 1,094 were over 60.
Purely religious reasons motivated 2,180 of the pilgrims, religious/cultural reasons 3,046 and non-religious reasons 429.
Pilgrims from countries other than Spain formed the majority: 3,610.
The largest group, 994, came from Germany, 435 from Portugal, 416 France, 245 Italy, 185 Austria, 141 UK, 112 Ireland, 104 Holland, and the rest from several countries including 95 from the U.S.
4,370, followed the French Camino; 698 the Portuguese Way, 303 the via de la Plata, 134 the northern Way, 77 the English Way, 62 the Primitive Way, and 11 pilgrims followed other routes.

In May, the Pilgrims Office awarded 15,983 Compostelas (12,898 in 2007).
9,531 were men and 6,452 women.
12,899 walkers, 3,024 cyclists, 59 rode horses and one pilgrim went by wheelchair.
Younger than 30 were 2,353 pilgrims; between 31 & 60 years there were 9,856 and 3,084 pilgrims were over 60.
6,905 made the pilgrimage because of religious reasons; 7,882 because of religious/cultural reasons and 1,196 did not have religious purposes.

Almost 2½ times as many pilgrims came from outside of Spain than from the host country itself: 11,196. Of these, again, the largest number came from Germany, 3,728, followed by 1,171 from France, 775 from Portugal, 448 from Holland, 3769 from Canada, 379 from Austria, 343 from the U.S. of A., and the rest from several countries in lesser numbers.
12,856 pilgrims followed the French Camino; 1,309 the Portuguese Way; 862 the Via de la Plata; 556 the northern Way; 242 the primitive Way, 128 the English Way, and 30 pilgrims followed other routes.

Again the numbers reflect only those people who requested, and received, a Compostela or tourist certificate. Routinely, the number of pilgrims on the various routes of the Camino at any one time has been estimated to be about five times the number of those who obtain a Compostela.

 

[Peter Robins]

Routinely, the number of pilgrims on the various routes of the Camino at any one time has been estimated to be about five times the number of those who obtain a Compostela.

so >80% of those you see en route don't get a compostela? doesn't sound very plausible to me.

 

[sillydoll]

Maybe - maybe not.
The report was from Rosina, taken from the Archdioces newsletter. Not sure who does the estimating!
We met lots of pilgrims last year who were not walking to Santiago - including Javier and Fernando - and a few other people on this forum. They walk a section one year and go back to do another section when they can.

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Yes - I wondered about that "fact" also - but it is true on the Camino Frances I met loads of people who were only walking one or two etapas and a flood of Spanish people who appeared at weekends and disappeared on Sunay evening.

 

[Peter Robins]

ah, but those who do it bit by bit still claim a compostela - they just take longer to get to Santiago. They belong in the 'claiming compostela' column. No doubt there are some who never complete, but I would have thought they were a small %age.

And those who have no intention of going to Compostela but are only walking a bit of the route aren't pilgrims anyway.

 

[sillydoll]

Phsew - isn't that somewhat unforgiving? Thank heavens there are a couple of hills of pardon, doors of pardon and other shrines along the way that say to people, “OK - so you can't make it to Santiago this time. The thing is that your intention was good and you chose the right road. You will receive my blessing anyway."

Perhaps the estimates are based on bed occupancy and in different areas and number of pilgrims receiving the compostela?

Sil

EDIT:
I have just read the post from Mouse who walked from St Jean to Burgos - with no intention of reaching Santiago on this trip. Has anyone the right to tell them that they 'are not real pilgrims anyway"??

 

[peregrina2000]

Thanks, Sil, for the statistics. You certainly make sure we have all the latest information. I wonder if you know whether the official site has the historical data broken down by month and camino followed -- I can't find it. In other words, I see that in April this year, 303 were on the vdlp, and in May it was 862. Is there any way to compare those vdlp totals with earlier years on the vdlp in April and May? I'm interested in getting a sense of the increase in traffice on that route in recent years for particular months. Or does the Archdiocese only keep historical data of yearly totals? Thanks a lot, Laurie

 

[William Marques]

• ..........................2003....2004....2005.....2006.....2007
  Frances...............65829.............79396....82407....91872
  Portuges...............3612..............5508.....6467.....8110
  Mozarabe..............1845..............3140.....3523.....5871
  Northern...............3068..............3984.....5378.....4193
  Ingles....................260..........................804.....2569
  Primitivo..................................1028.....1588.....1085

Buen Camino
William

 

[sillydoll]

Rosina gave this explanation of the estimates of pilgrims on the camino:

The Sociology department of the Cathedral, headed by Don Juan Jose Cebrian (brother pf Don Genaro, who heads the Pilgrims' office) has estimated the number of pilgrims on the Camino at any one time by using the registration in albergues, the data given when the credential is obtained, and other sources, such as the tourist information offices throughout the Camino?.
The vast majority of pilgrims from Spain complete the Camino over four segments, as do a great many Latin Americans who have only two weeks vacation. There are also some pilgrims who do not complete the pilgrimage in a manner that would entitle them to a Compostela because of illness, tiredness or other reasons. And then there are some who do not request, or get a Compostela for one reason or another. The 5 to 1 estimate has proven steady and reliable over the last ten years or so.

 

[sillydoll]

Hi Laurie,
If you go on the site at http://www.archicompostela.org and click on the coloured shell it will take you to the pilrimage page. Click on the Union Jack for English and then on Statistics.
If you scroll down to stats for 2006-2007 you will get a comprehensive breakdown of pilgrim data for those two years.
If you click on: 3.1 Distribución de los peregrinos según los meses, el sexo, la edad, el motivo para peregrinar y el medio de locomoción empleado It will give you info from 1989 - 2004.

If you would like a few stats pages from about 2003, I can mail them to you with pleasure. Just email me at sillydoll@gmail.com

 

[Peter Robins]

I have just read the post from Mouse who walked from St Jean to Burgos - with no intention of reaching Santiago on this trip. Has anyone the right to tell them that they 'are not real pilgrims anyway"??

That wasn't what I meant. They are still heading for Santiago, and whether they do the journey all at once or split over several years doesn't affect the statistical %age of those claiming a compostela. When they come back to continue on their way, they are still the same person!

Those who Johnny saw on the other hand may have just been out for a walk and not heading for Santiago at all. Or the scores of people I saw at O Cebreiro who had driven up there on a nice Sunday afternoon, strolled about a bit, and then drove home again; OK, they were 'on the Camino' but were not pilgrims by any stretch.

 

[sillydoll]

Mmmm?? I don't know Pete. I think the Sociology Department mean 'pilgrims' as in those who have a credencial and stay in the albergues. I don't think they include tourists who are out sightseeing in a bus.
Anyway, there is no way of compiling proper stats but I'm sure the numbers of people who walk short sections of the camino when they have the time and money to do so has grown.

 

[peregrina2000]

Thanks, Sil, I don't think I was clear about what I was looking for, because I've looked at the yearly statistics again and don't find numbers broken down by month for each particular camino.

For 2008, the monthly statistics each month list numbers according to "camino seguido" -- for May, 2008, it shows that: "la Vía de la Plata ha sido elegida por 862 peregrinos".

But when I look at the yearly statistics I don't see any month by month breakdown according to the camino. It's possible I'm just missing something that is staring me in the face, of course. But the only statistics I see in 3.1 are a total for all Caminos, I think.

Thanks, Laurie

 

[sillydoll]

I realised after I'd sent the post that you wanted earlier years' stats.
I've tried to post them with an attachment. Lets see if it works!

 

[philippe33]

the Pilgrim office at SAINT JEAN PIED DE PORT has registrated from january to 31th may 2008
11494 pilgrims
.....................................2006..................2007...................2008
total..............................7721..................10164...................11494
german...........................863....................2235.....................2723
french............................2456...................2650.....................2611
italian............................666......................756......................865
spanish...........................683......................690......................829
canadian..............................................................................505
NL.....................................................................................460
austria................................................................................334
UK.....................................................................................321
switzerland...........................................................................288
South Korea..........................................................................285
the busiest day was the 1st of may with 426 pilgrims registration
stats in French at http://www.aucoeurduchemin.org
bon chemin
philippe33

 

[sillydoll]

All the stats for April and May are now on the website at http://www.archicompostela.org

Only in Spanish at this stage.

 

[Peter Robins]

I think the Sociology Department mean 'pilgrims' as in those who have a credencial and stay in the albergues.

exactly. So what they would have us believe is that of all those who set off from Sarria, Roncesvalles, Tui, Orense, whereever, only 1 in 6 claims a compostela. The other way round sounds more convincing to me!

 

[spursfan]

It seems like Sil is the probably the only one that archives the pilgrim stats from the archdiocese - they just appear to have months for 2008 but no breakdown by month along the various routes for 2007 and earlier years - you'd think that someone would be able to keep a simple spreadsheet with all the numbers rather than pretending to have the pilgrim stats available in so many languages (other than spanish with a lag) when we don't need translations just numbers

 

[sillydoll]

2006, 2007, 2008 Pilgrim stats

A few stats from Rosina - pilgrims who collected a certificate at the pilgrims' office.

Edit:
NB: In 2007 they celebrated Holy Week (Easter) during the month of April, but this year it was in March. That is why they received 5327 pilgrims during the month of March this year compared with 1680 pilgrims received in March 2007.
In April 5,655 pilgrims received the compostela in Santiago. (8,112 in April of 2007.... when Holy Week fell in April)

2006 100377 : 2007 114026 : 2008 124010 (December excl.)

2006, 2007, 2008
January
3 14
350
306

February
351
666
703

March
1093
1680
5328

April
7438
8112
5655

May
9992
12898
15988

June
12946
15157
15860

July
18560
20108
20983

August
25968
27140
29733

September
13451
15189
17283

October
7661
9434
9871

November
1755
2496
2300

December
848
796

 

[Rebekah Scott]

the pilgrim office in Santiago is staffed by volunteers, I am told. That´s why there´s a lag in statistics, a lack of "simple spreadsheets," etc. They´re running around behind that desk trying to get the lines of pilgrims down, while avoiding handing out Compostelas to souvenir-hunters or tourists. Asking them to also keep "a simple spreadsheet" for the sake of getting instant info to casual observers like us might be, well... asking a bit much. Seems to me all these columns of numbers we already have are more than adequate, and attempt to lend empirical value to an ineffable phenomenon.

Reb
(who maintains a rocky relationship with numbers in general).