[Gocamino] 2008 April and May pilgrims

[Rosina]

Hello you all,
Last April 5,655 pilgrims received the compostela in Santiago. (8,112 in April of 2007.... when Holy Week fell in April)
3,402 were males and 2,253 females.
4,825 walked, 824 rode bicycles, 5 went by horseback and one went on a wheelchair.
1,567 of the pilgrims were under thirty years of age, 2,994 were between thirty and sixty and 1,094 were over sixty.
Purely religious reasons motivated 2,180 of the pilgrims, religious/cultural reasons impelled 3,046 pilgrims and non-religious reasons were declared by 429.
Pilgrims from countries other than Spain formed the majority: 3,610. The largest group, 994, came from Germany, followed by 435 from Portugal, 416 from France, 245 from Italy, 185 from Austria, 141 from the UK, 112 from Ireland, 104 from Holland, and the rest from several countries including 95 from the U.S.
As usual, the largest number of pilgrims, 4,370, ?followed the French Camino; 698 covered 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.

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

Almost 2 1/2 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, 373 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 above numbers reflect only those people who requested, and received, a Compostela.? 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.? As has been mentioned many times, a large number of pilgrims cover the Camino in sections (particularly pilgrims from Spain, Brasil, and several Ibero-American countries).

Hugs!

Rosina