JEDDAH: The Saudi General Authority for Statistics announced on Saturday, the second day of Hajj, that the official number of pilgrims taking part in 2019 is 2,489,406. Of those, 1,855,027 came from abroad and 634,379 are from within the Kingdom. Some 1,385,234 of the total number were male pilgrims (55.65 percent), while female pilgrims numbered 1,104172 pilgrims (44.35 percent).

The vast majority — 93 percent — of international pilgrims arrived in the Kingdom by air, while 5.2 percent arrived overland and the remainder came by sea.

Domestic pilgrims travelled to Makkah using around 33,000 vehicles, most of which were small cars.

The final count and detailed numbers of this year’s Hajj season were announced at the end of Saturday, the Day of Arafat, which is the most important day of Hajj.

The counting process is undertaken by Hajj statistics centers located at all entrances to Makkah, as well as at other support centers in the cities of Jeddah, Taif, and Madinah.

Arab News