[Gocamino] 2004 statistics

[Blaroli at aol.com]

Hello you all,
Here are the long awaited 2004 pilgrims´statistics.   Hurrah!
Please note that these numbers (subject to last-minute fine-tuning) represent only those pilgrims who sought and obtained the Compostela at the Pilgrims´Office, and not, in any way, all those who traversed the Camino last year:

The total number of pilgrims who received the Compostela was 179,944  (54,613 in 1999 and 99,436 in 1993, the two preceding Holy Years).  44.2% of the pilgrims were women and the rest were men.
169,858 pilgrims (94.3%) declared their reson for the pilgrimage to be religious or religious/cultural. 10,086 pilgrims (5.6%) stated their reason to be solely cultural.
156,952 of the pilgrims walked; 21,260 rode bicycles; 1,672 rode horses and 60 went by wheelchair.
About 42% of the pilgrims completed their pilgrimage during July and August, however they kept arriving in Santiago all year (NOTE:Let me know if you want to know the month-by-month figures).
Among the pilgrims there were 1,143 artists, 1,233 priests, 390 nuns, 126 professional sports people and 390 sailors. (NOTE: let me know if you want to know all the professions represented).
All but 42,115 of the pilgrims were from Spain, and they came from all over their country.
138,397 traversed the French Way; followed by 15,883 who covered the Portuguese Way; 9,309 the Via de la Plata; 8,032 the Northern Way; 4,947 the Primitve Way, 3,096 the English Way and 280 that followed the Fisterre-Muxia route.
59 of the pilgrims were over 80 (eighty) years old; 1,542 were between 71 and 80; 12,960 between 61-70; 27,666 between 51-60; 49,889 between 36 and 50; 37,711 between 26 and 35; 39,520 between 16 and 25 and 10,597 between 7 and 15.
The largest number of pilgrims started out in Sarria, 39,583; 20,695 in O Cebreiro; 13,108 in Roncesvalles; 10,725 in Tui; 10,684 in Ponferrada; 9,343 in SJPP and in descending numbers from other 128 places.  They started out in Lourdes, in Paris, in Italy, in Austria, in Lisbon, in Holland, in Finland and 2 even walked from Greece! (NOTE: if you want the place-by-place details let me know and I´ll post them).
The largest number of foreign pilgrims, 7,670, came from Italy; 6,815 from Germany; 6,567 from France; 3,252 from Portugal; 2,028 from the United States (Let´s hear it for us!); 1,439 from Brasil; 1,432 from the UK; 1,399 from Holland; 1,279 from Belgium; 1,203 from Austria; 1,090 from Canada; 1,001 from Mexico and the rest from 102 contries  including Iran (!), Saudi Arabia, Israel and Afghanistan.  (NOTE:  if you want to know about a specific country, let me know)
I should like to note that the North American countries (Canada, the U.S.A. and Mexico) were represented by 4,119 pilgrims..... an ever-increasing participation in the Pilgrimage.
Because something new has come up, again, I´ve postponed my return to New York until Saturday the 15th.... when I really, really, MUST go home.
Meanwhile, if you have any specific questions above the above statistics, let me know and I´ll try to find out the answers if I don´t have them.
A techie Santiago friend has offered to help me post some of my New Year´s eve pictures.  Look for them and do let me know if you get them.
Huge hug!
Rosina