Stats are always difficult but the numbers issued by the pilgrim's office are only for those pilgrims who collected a certificate when they reached Santiago. There are perhaps three times as many pilgrims on the trails at any one time.
We met many pilgrims walking short sections of the
camino frances. A couple from France had walked from their home to Pamplona in 2002; from Pamplona to Burgos in 2005 and were walking from Burgos to Astorga . We met a group of friends from Belgium who were walking from Burgos to Ponferrada this year having missed out the meseta in 2003 . I have friends who want to walk from Lourdes to Pamplona next year - they have no real desire to earn a Compostela.
In 2004 stats put out claimed that:
More than 650,000 Santiago pilgrims availed themselves of the publicly sponsored albergues between January and October. Of these pilgrims, 400,000 occupied the albergues on the French Way, 220,000 of whom were
accommodated in "polideportivos" (sports facilities) and in Army and Civil Guard-provided tents and facilities. 65,000 on the Portuguese Way, 35,000 on the Via de la Plata and 26,000 on the Fisterra-Muxia Way.
The above numbers did not reflect those pilgrims who did not use the publicly sponsored albergues, that is, those who stayed in privately run facilities.