Pakistani pilgrims have always been in the lead for quite a few years now when it comes to the total number of pilgrims. The total number of Umrah visas issued till today is 998,670. Out of these issued visas, 695,740 have arrived in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia through different means. The data has been shared by the Ministry of Hajj, KSA.
The breakup of the pilgrims was shown as follows by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah:
According to these stats:
- The Mutamireen (umrah pilgrims) in the kingdom were 294,767.
- Out of these, 198.786 were in Makkah and 95,981 in Medinah.
- Majority of the pilgrims reached for the umrah trip by air. The number was 650,702.
- 45010 entered through land. If you are surprised, these are mostly from neighboring GCC states.
- 28 also arrived by sea.
The country-wise split was as follows:
- Pakistan: 262,695
- India: 140,505
- Indonesia: 131,908
- Yemen : 26,334
- Malaysia: 21,767
- UAE: 14,667
As you can see from the above, Pakistani pilgrims have topped the list of pilgrims from around the world. Increasing the number of Umrah pilgrims is one of the key factors in the vision 2030 of the Saudi government. The Pakistani pilgrims (undeterred by the repeat umrah fee of SR 2000) have continued going for the pilgrimage. However, these number could be a lot higher if the fee was waived according to rumors last week. However, nothing has shown in the system yet and the fees are still applicable.