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I had a conversation with @ivar about member numbers when I last visited Santiago in January. He pointed out that people do not generally ask for their accounts to be deleted when they stop visiting the forum. So the number of active members is really far smaller than the listed total which is almost everyone who has ever signed up with an account in the past.
I always assume that posts are overwhelmingly from USA / Canadian folks.. maybe >90% judging by language and timing of points. Not that I would post anything contentious but I would definately do it based on EST and PCT when most of the mods are having a well earned sleep!
One of the factors that @ivar considers when inviting people to become moderators is their time zone!
Sure. Can’t leave all is ‘out of control Europeans’ on BST/CEST to ‘run riot’ unmonitored. It would be chaos! !!One of the factors that @ivar considers when inviting people to become moderators is their time zone!
either...we lurk & freely type away while ye Northerners slumber! 
Oh no you don’t (pantomime season is approaching). @dick birdDon't forget us Antipodeans
I don't have any numbers to support my impression, but I don't think the USA/Canadians make up anywhere near that percentage.
The “usual suspects”
I would agree with "overwhelmingly" (as an impression), though perhaps not such a high percentage. Why is this so? After all this is not a North American Forum. It's founded by a (very) northern European who lives in Spain.
So then it is similar to how wealth is distributed on this planet!
I'm still laughing three hours later.
Sure who knows. It feels that way to me. I guess I am probably talking ‘posts’ not posters, but it feels overwhelmingly that way to me. Happy for it to be that way as interacting with folks from very different cultures is a major plus! I m struggling to think of much more than 10 very regular
You're right @TravellingMan22 - who knows? As an aside, I doubt that forum members, active or otherwise, are representative (by nationality or any other measure) of people walking the various Camino paths at any given time. That's just my feeling from what I have seen on the forum compared to who I have met on the Way. And even if they were, active members is a sub-set and active members who post frequently another sub-set, and members who respond to a poll another sub-set ... and so on. I do agree that there's something to be appreciated by seeing other perspectives. I particularly appreciate the input of forum members who I gather are from countries, cultures and backgrounds far removed from my own.
Yes 100% agree with every word.You're right @TravellingMan22 - who knows? As an aside, I doubt that forum members, active or otherwise, are representative (by nationality or any other measure) of people walking the various Camino paths at any given time. That's just my feeling from what I have seen on the forum compared to who I have met on the Way. And even if they were, active members is a sub-set and active members who post frequently another sub-set, and members who respond to a poll another sub-set ... and so on. I do agree that there's something to be appreciated by seeing other perspectives. I particularly appreciate the input of forum members who I gather are from countries, cultures and backgrounds far removed from my own.
I have been doing various Camino's since 2007, ( most years than other than COVID!) I also have impression that most contributers on this forum are from North America (I'm from Ireland) What intrigues me is that on all my Camino's I have only ever met one American, girl from Texas and two Canadians. Odd
Similar but not as extreme in my personal statistics. Very few from North America, almost more from South America. Some asians and heaps of Europeans. I wonder if that might be connected to preferred seasons. I am usually on the path early in the year, spring, before the first big wave of pilgrims arrives.
I think the timing must be important. I walked from SJPDP in January this year. According to the SJPDP pilgrim office figures for January, February and March there were nearly equal numbers of Koreans and Americans recorded. But my experience over the walk was that about 1/3 or more of my fellow pilgrims were Korean, only two were Canadian and none at all were from the US.
I agree it really depends on the timing - and the path. A few weeks ago we were at the pilgrims' dinner in Roncesvalles. We were about 20 around the table. A sprinkling of Belgian, Italian, French, Brazilian, Russian (living in US), French Canadian, Japanese, one Australian (me) and 6 pilgrims from South Korea. With such a percentage it was easy to assume the Korean pilgrims were travelling as a group - but they weren't. They were each walking solo and had met just the day before in SJPP. Some said they found it funny and surprising that there were so many of them starting the same day. It was a fun dinner despite, or maybe because of, some language challenges!
It may also be to do with accommodation choices.
That’s an interesting point, odd that I’d not thought of that before. Personally I’ve only done two short Caminos, both this year, but whilst I met 4 North Americans- two Canadians, two Americans- I met mainly Europeans, several Irish, a Palestinian couple and a couple of Asians. Oh, and one Brit.
I would tend to walk most years in late April to early May. The people I met varied with the route in my experience. In order of greater nos, On the Frances, French, Spanish, German , Dutch, Irish and Australian. On the Portuguese, portuguese, Spanish, french, German and Dutch. On the Norte, Spanish, French and one Canadian. On the Tunnel route, French couple. (Quiet route !) Primativo, Spanish, French, German and a few from UK. Not very scientific survey impressions only.
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