General Authority for Statistics: Total Number of Hajj Pilgrims in 1440 AH is 2,489,406, a 4.96% Increase Over Last Year; Kingdom Provides Over 350,000 Employees to Serve Them Of these, 1,855,027 pilgrims are from abroad, and 634,379 are from within the Kingdom GASTAT: The total number of pilgrims for the 1440 AH Hajj season is 2,489,406, an increase of 4.96% from last year; the Kingdom has provided over 350 thousand employees to serve them. [Total Number of Hajj Pilgrims] The General Authority for Statistics published number for Hajj on the year 1440 AH on Saturday, 9 Dhu al-Hijjah: a total of 2,489,406 pilgrims, 1,855,027 of which come from outside the Kingdom, 634,379 from within; 67% of pilgrims are non-Saudi. The number of male pilgrims out of the total was 1,385,234, and 1,104,172 were female. The total number of pilgrims in 1440 AH compared with the number of pilgrims last year (1439 AH), it is clear that the number has increased this by 117,731, since 1439’s total came-up to 2,371,675. [Foreign Pilgrims] In regards to pilgrims coming from outside the Kingdom, the number hailing from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was 31,884 (2%), Arab countries sans the GCC 414,750 (22%), Asian countries excepting Arab countries 1,126,633 (61%), African countries sans Arab states 187,414 (10%,), European countries 67,054 (4%), and North America, South America, and Australia 26,892 (1%). A total of 1,741,568 pilgrims arrived from outside Saudi Arabia through airports, while 96,209 of them arrived via land; seaports accounted for 17,250 pilgrims. Their arrival at Saudi Arabia varied by time; 614,919 arrived from outside of the Kingdom from the start of the season until 18 Dhu al-Qaada; 808,311 arrived from 19 to 29 Dhu al-Qaada; and a further 431,797 arrived from 1 to 8 Dhu al-Hijjah. [Local Pilgrims] In regards to pilgrims from within the Kingdom, which totaled 634379 pilgrims this year (including those residing temporarily there for Hajj), the number of non-Saudis was 423,376, with a further 211,003 Saudis. The Authority has limited the number of pilgrims coming to Mecca from within the Kingdom of Saudis and non-Saudis through the Hajj Statistics Centers located at the entrances to Mecca. The percentage of pilgrims coming from within the Kingdom through the Jeddah – Mecca highway was 34.7%; those through the Mecca-Holy Places road made-up 27.7%, the Mecca-Medina saw was 19.3%; and the three remaining roads—South-Mecca, Taif-Mecca, and old Jeddah-Mecca—made-up 15.7%. In addition, arrivals by way of the Haramain High Speed Railway train reached 2.6%. The General Authority for Statistics in its statistics for this year revealed that 7, 8, and 9 Dhu al-Hijjah saw the arrival of 82.5% of total local pilgrims coming to Mecca; cars entering Mecca this year totaled 39,978. [Manpower in Hajj] In regards to manpower during Hajj across all sectors, over 350,830 served during the 1440 AH Hajj season, representing over 47 governmental and private entities and 353 main and subservices. The total manpower supervising and conducing follow-up services to Hajj came from 6 bodies and 6336 employees; those working with general Hajj services were 257,763 from 21 bodies; the total manpower in the health and medical services was 30,908 and employee from three bodies; manpower providing pilgrim transport, post and logistics services (shipping, postal and logistics) hit 38,750 employees from eight destinations; ICT manpower hit 7,098 employees from four bodies; and 9,975 volunteers served the elderly and worked in guidance, pilgrims relations, translation, and in the health and media. [Statistical Methodology for Counting Pilgrims Numbers] The General Authority for Statistics said it uses a comprehensive counting method for all local pilgrims; using centers located at the entrances to the city of Mecca, the Authority counts the actual pilgrims inside. Foreign pilgrims are counted by the General Directorate of Passports, as mentioned previously, whose employees are present at all ports—land, sea and air. In addition, pilgrims from the city of Mecca are assessed by the General Authority for Statistics in periodic surveys. President of the General Authority for Statistics HE Dr. Fahad bin Sulaiman Altekhaifi thanked all security and governmental personnel conducting its Hajj mission this year. He praised the contributions made by more than 520 field researchers from the General Authority for Statistics, who completed the tasks assigned to them in the Hajj this year after working around the clock from the first of this month until today’s sunset (Day of Arafat). At the conclusion of all work related to GASTAT’s pilgrimage statistics program, the Authority prays that Allah accept the pilgrimage of all who came to Hajj, and to reconcile the efforts of all security and government agencies, plus all others in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who provide outstanding services for pilgrims.

Over 7000 Employees Working Around the Clock to Provide Telecommunications Services and Prepare 68 Offices GaStat: There are 13,776 Towers to Ensure Good Cellphone Coverage and 5G Technology in Mecca and the Holy Places for Pilgrims To raise the efficiency of ICT services in Mecca and the Holy Places, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology deployed 5G technology during this year’s Hajj in Mecca, Medina, and the Holy Places, providing pilgrims with quality services. The ministry launched the second phase of the Smart Hajj initiative, which offers a number of applications, platforms and digital and awareness services. This year, the initiative included a volunteer training platform for pilgrims, a virtual reality platform to instruct pilgrims abroad on performing rites, as well as a platform for smart phone applications that would make it easier for pilgrims to benefit from a number of application during their journey. As per the statistics of the 1440 AH Hajj, provided to pilgrims by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the General Authority for Statistics, the total number of employees providing telecommunications and IT services to pilgrims during the season this year reached 7098 employees, working around the clock to provide advanced and adequate communications services. The Communications and Information Technology Commission supervises all services provided to the guests of Rahman in coordination with licensed telecommunications and IT service providers.  There is a total of 68 telecommunications offices in Mecca. The total number of mobile towers in the Great Mosque, Mecca, Mina, Muzdalifah, Arafat and Medina was 13,776 towers, ensuring mobile communication coverage, data coverage, and coverage of land, sea and airports, roads, and Meeqaths with full telecommunication and internet services; In regards to services provided, the Mecca branch of the Communications and Information Technology Commission in Mecca periodically checks sound and Internet indicators and verifies their effectiveness, surveys mobile network bandwidth between the Two Holy Mosques, monitors highways linking Mecca, Jeddah and Medina to ensure mobile service quality, addresses any harmful interference affecting network performance, and allows the use of temporary usage of certain frequencies for each mobile operator to increase network capacity and improve the level of services provided to pilgrims in Mecca, Medina, and the Holy Places.  Authorized telecom operators in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are located in more than 68 points of sale across the Holy of Places to provide SIM cards, data, and top-up cards, in addition to providing technical support centers in various languages to serve pilgrims.  The General Authority for Statistics provides many details through the Hajj statistics register for 1440 AH, created to publish all statistics related to Hajj services provided by the government agencies to pilgrims, through its official website at www.stats.gov.sa

From 1390 H until last year 1439 H   General Authority for Statistics: Over 95 million Hajj pilgrims hosted and served by KSA over the last 50 years The task of counting the numbers of pilgrims every year is one of the most important tasks assigned to the General Authority for Statistics (GAS). The task was entrusted to GAS in 1390 H back when it still operated under the designation of Department of Statistics and Information. This aimed at providing accurate information to assist all government entities in the planning and development of everything related to the service of the guests of Allah. The task continued throughout these years, witnessing year after year developments in counting and inventory methods and statistical outputs including data and indicators. The Authority is tasked with completing three statistical projects during every Hajj season (inventory of the numbers of pilgrims, statistics of services offered to pilgrims, and Hajj work management indicators) with the goal of providing the largest amount of data needed to support decision- and policy-makers in achieving the highest levels of accuracy and comprehensiveness. The Authority indicated that the total number of pilgrims served by the Kingdom during the last 50 years amounted to 95,853,017 pilgrims, noting that the numbers exceeded 2 millions in 19 Hajj seasons, while the numbers of pilgrims during the last 25 years reached 54,465,253 pilgrims.  Moreover, the numbers of pilgrims during the last 10 years reached 23,796,977 pilgrims, as per the GAS official statistics. The hajj statistics program is aimed at complementing all other future plans and programs in order to provide necessary services for the Hajj pilgrim, including social, health, security, food, and transport services.This is done by producing timed and accurate data on the numbers of pilgrims and estimated size of workforce needed to serve pilgrims and maintain their security and comfort during the Hajj season every year. The pilgrims data and numbers are also used by entities entrusted with studying basic installations and facilities in Mecca and holy sites and are taken into consideration when preparing necessary plans for this end. Accurate information and data on Hajj statistics is also provided to researchers, academics, beneficiaries, and those interested in the field and is used as well in the evaluation of activities and events held by pilgrim service entities and for learning about trends and patterns of national and foreign pilgrims. GAS will publish the final and official number of Hajj pilgrims on the 9th of Dhu al-Hijjah in the evening through the bulletin of Hajj statistics which will include the following detailed results: Number of national pilgrims, number of foreign incoming pilgrims, number of pilgrims by gender, nationality, and country of departure, numbers and models of vehicles transporting pilgrims, and other detailed data.