OVER 1.83 MILLION MUSLIMS PERFORM HAJ THIS YEAR

From Nashir Mansor

MAKKAH, June 16 (Bernama) -- A total of 1,833,164 Muslims from all over the world are performing the haj pilgrimage this year, according to the General Authority for Statistics of the Saudi government.

Of this total, 958,137 are male pilgrims, while 875,027 are female pilgrims.

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The authority also said that 1,611,310 pilgrims are from external countries, while 221,854 are internal pilgrims.

“Pilgrims from Asian countries (excluding Arab countries) represent 63.3 per cent, Arab countries (22.3 per cent), African countries (11.3 per cent) and Europe, North and South America and Australia (3.2 per cent),” it said in a document made available to media here.

The statistics also highlighted that the highest number of pilgrim arrivals were through airports, with 1,546,345 people, followed by land ports (60,251) and seaports (4,714).

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On the other hand, the number of pilgrims benefiting from the Makkah Route Initiative this year’s haj season is 322,901 people.

The authority also mentioned that collecting the data serves the purpose of supporting decision-makers by providing detailed information to enhance the services for pilgrims.

“The statistics contribute to evaluating the services provided by entities responsible for serving the pilgrims,” it said.

-- BERNAMA