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Pilgrims Demographics

THE WAY NAME IN OTHER LANGUAGES

The Way of St. James is most often referred to by the names used in the areas it passes:

Spanish: El Camino de Santiago or simply El Camino
Galician: O Camiño de Santiago or Ruta Xacobea
Basque: Donejakue Bidea
French: O Camiño de Santiago or Le Chemin de Saint Jacques
Portuguese: O Caminho de Santiago

SOME STATISTICS

The Way of St James has existed for over a thousand years, also being one of the most important Christian pilgrimages during medieval times. The Modern Camino`s revival began in the 1960s thanks to the efforts of people like a local parish priest who wrote a guide on the Camino and travelled around Europe giving lectures on the subject.

Although initially a pilgrimage for those with religious motivations, there are many travellers and hikers who walk the route for non-religious reasons: travel, sport, or simply walking in a beautiful but challenging landscape. Also, many consider the experience a spiritual adventure away from the stress of modern life.

The figures below only include the pilgrims who arrive in Santiago and received a Compostela. There are many more that complete sections of the Camino who are not documented.

Year	No of Pilgrims
1985	2,491
1995	19,821
2005	93,921
2010	272,313

The peak in 2010 is partly due the fact that it was a Holy Year, that is, the feast day of Saint James, July 25th, fell on a Sunday. The next such occurrence is 2021

More statistics..

Sex	Men 56%	Woman 44%
Medium	Walking 83%	Cycling 16%	Horse / Wheelchair -< 1%
Age	30-60 – 58%	Under 30 – 24%	Over 60 – 18%
Nationality	Spanish – 48%	Other – 52%	(Top nationalities – Germany Italy France Portugal Ireland UK Canada US