Total Number of Pilgrims in the Current Hajj Season Reaches 1,862,909 Pilgrims

Muzdalifah, 10 Dzulhijjah 1437/12 September 2016 (MINA) – The Saudi General Authority of Statistics announced on Sunday, the ninth of Dzulhijjah, the results of Hajj statistics for the year 1437 AH. The total number of pilgrims reached 1,862,909 pilgrims.

They included 1,325,372 pilgrims from outside the kingdom, while the total number of pilgrims from inside the kingdom reached (537,537) pilgrims. The vast majority of them were non-Saudi residents, Saudi religious authorities said.

The total number of non-Saudi pilgrims reached 1,692,417 pilgrims, while the total number of Saudi pilgrims reached 170,492 pilgrims.

The Gulf kingdom, which is home to Islam’s two holiest sites Makkah and Madinah, implemented the reduced quota ahead of last year’s hajj season as a result of major construction and renovation work.

Since 2013 Saudi Arabia implement policies to cut global hajj quota by 20 per cent and 50 per cent for domestic Hajj.

As a result, Indonesia as one of the major Muslim countries is only permitted to send as many as 168,000 pilgrims from the previous 210,000 pilgrims.

This would increase the time for pilgrims to have a turn to perform pilgrimage from twelve years at present.

There are about 2.5 million Indonesian pilgrims in the waiting list and have paid the cost of the pilgrimage. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)