The data of the Way of Saint James in 2021: pilgrims, routes, nationalities

The year 2021 has come to an end and it is time to analyse how this year has been for the Camino de Santiago. 2020 was largely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and 2021 experienced its consequences. These were much more visible at the beginning of the year, when the most severe restrictions were still active, being from the month of April when the boom of pilgrims returned to fill the streets.

While COVID-19 continued to be the main protagonist of the year 2021, there were many reasons why many people chose to do the Camino de Santiago during their holidays. Mobility restrictions was one of them, something that came hand in hand with the fact that 2021 was Xacobean Year.

The year 2021 was a marked year for many as it was 11 years since a Xacobean Year had been celebrated. Due to the delicate situation we are living, it was requested directly to Pope Francis to increase the duration until the end of 2022, something very exceptional and that has only happened 2 times in history.

It was expected that the year 2021 was going to attract many people to the Camino de Santiago, however the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative influence so that this was not the case. This does not mean that no pilgrims will reach the Cathedral of Santiago, being more than 178,000 those who got their compostela.

• January: 60 (2021) / 1,999 (2020) / 1,651 (2019) / 1,627 (2018) 
• February: 14 (2021) / 3,076 (2020) / 2,119 (2019) / 2,181 (2018) 
• March: 194 (2021) / 1,710 (2020) / 7,474 (2019) / 11,056 (2018)
• April: 1,024 (2021) / 0 (2020) / 31,721 (2019) / 22,068 (2018)
• May: 4,295 (2021) / 0 (2020) / 46,672 (2019) / 40,665 (2018)
• June: 14,824 (2021) / 12 (2020) / 49,057 (2019) / 45,685 (2018) 
• July: 35,963 (2021) / 9,752 (2020) / 53,319 (2019) / 50,868 (2018)
• August: 43,575 (2021) / 19,812 (2020) / 62,814 (2019) / 60,415 (2018)
• September: 37,463 (2021) / 10,441 (2020) / 45,649 (2019) / 47,006 (2018)
• October: 31,170 (2021) / 6,418 (2020) / 36,115 (2019) / 35,602 (2018)
• November: 9,094 (2021) / 586 (2020) / 8,237 (2019) / 7,651 (2018)
• December: 1,193 (2021) / 99 (2020) / 2,710 (2019) / 2,517 (2018)

If we analyse this past year, we can highlight that in 2021 the number of Spanish pilgrims increased, something that came generated by the restrictions due to the pandemic. It also highlights that there were more women than men and that most pilgrims made the journey on foot. To be more precise, we will answer the following questions.

• How many women and men walked the Camino in 2021? A total of 79773 women and 79424 men walked the Camino in 2021. 
• How many pilgrims walked the Camino de Santiago this year? A total of 148986 pilgrims walked the Camino. The second most frequent mode was by bicycle with a total of 9859 pilgrims, followed by horseback with 162 and sailing with 158.
• What country were the pilgrims from in 2021? Spain was the country that gave the most pilgrims to the Camino de Santiago with a total of 137126. In second place was Italy with 7669, followed by Germany and Portugal with 6816 and 6566 respectively.

There are many Jacobean routes from which pilgrims can choose, however not all have the same influx of people. Each year that passes the secondary routes are gaining more popularity, without stealing the limelight for the moment to the French Way and the Portuguese Way, the busiest routes.

• French Way: 87517 pilgrims
• Portuguese Way: 30285 pilgrims
• English Way: 9743 pilgrims
• Primitive Way: 9239 pilgrims
• Northern Way: 8731 pilgrims