Every year the number of people who decide to do the Camino de Santiago increases. There is no standard profile to define the pilgrim although there are numerous statistical studies that give us a clue about the most frequent travelers. In the following article we analyze where the pligrims come from to do the Camino de Santiago:

The way, the pilgrims and Where they come from:

The truth is that no matter what time of year we are to make the Camino de Santiago, but it is true that with the arrival of good weather are many who make the decision to undertake this adventure, and therefore begin preparations .

The way can be done in many ways: alone (although as we said in another post, it is difficult not to end up accompanied by another pilgrim who has also chosen to do the Camino alone), in a group or by bicycle, And the truth is that there is room for everyone regardless of our starting point, no matter what community, country or continent we come from.

The truth is that the Camino de Santiago is becoming more and more international and over the years the number of foreign pilgrims is increasing significantly, so we ask ourselves: Where are the pilgrims who decide to do the Camino de Santiago from? We offer you some of the rather curious data about the origin of the walkers who travel the routes that cross all of Spain until they arrive at Santiago de Compostela taking as a reference the official data of the year 2017 of the Pilgrim’s Office.

Nationalities of the pilgrims:

Spain, by custom and proximity, is still, as you can imagine, the main country that brings pilgrims every year. However, as we can see from the statistics, in recent years the number of foreign pilgrims is equaling, even surpassing the number of national visitors.

Obradoiro's square
There are more and more Italian tourists who decide to undertake this journey, normally with the French Way, Italia is the second country with the highest number of pilgrims. The third are the Germans and the fourth are the Portuguese, who almost reach 13,000 pilgrims a year. It is worth mentioning that from Lisbon begins the Portuguese Way second most important route on the Camino de Santiago.

Spaniards

The total number of Spanish visitors in 2017 is 132,478 (44.01%); the largest number of pilgrims came from the communities of Andalusia with 27,472 (20.74%); Madrid with 24.983 (18.86%); Comunidad Valenciana with 15,926 (12.02%); Cataluña with 13,604 (10.27%); Galicia with 9,166 (6.92%); Castilla la Mancha with 7,133 (5.38%); Castilla León with 7,065 (5.33%); País Vasco with 4,542 (3.43%); etc.

Foreigners

The total number of foreign visitors in 2017 is 168,558 (55.99%); the country with the highest number of pilgrims is Italy, with 27,073 (16.06%); Germany, with 23.227 (13.78%); United States, with 17,522 (10.40%); Portugal, with 12,940 (7.68%); France, with 8,835 (5.24%); Ireland, with 6,643 (3.94%); United Kingdom, with 5,768 (3.42%); Brazil, with 5,113 (3.03%); etc.

What has been the most followed path in 2017?

As we can see from the statistics, the route chosen par excellence is the French Way, with a number of 180,738 pilgrims and a percentage of 60.04%, being the route of greatest historical relevance and so unique for its variety of landscapes and its extraordinary wealth of monuments.
panoramic view of the hornillos castrojeriz french way stage
Other Roads:
Portuguese-Camino with 59.235 (19,68%); North-Camino with 17.836 (5,92%); Primitivo-Camino with 13.684 (4,55%); English-Camino with 11.321 (3,76%); Vía de la Plata with 9.138 (3,04%); Portuguese Costa Camino with 6.630 (2.20%); Muxia-Finisterre with 665 (0.22%); Portuguese Camino Costa with 581 (0.19%); Other Camino with 537 (0.18%); Winter Camino with 526 (0.17%); Portuguese Camino Costa with 116 (0.04%); Camino Winter with 29 (0.01%); etc.
Source: https://oficinadelperegrino.com/estadisticas/

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