Riyadh: The number of Umrah pilgrims increased by 31 percent during the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter in 2023.
According to a report on Umrah statistics released by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), males constituted about 53 percentof the Umrah performers, while females accounted for 47 percent.
Saudi nationals comprised 4.5 percent of the total, with the Makkah Region recording the highest number of domestic Umrah performers.
The report also indicated a 26.2 percent increase in international Umrah performers compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Of these, 64.7 percent arrived with an Umrah visa.
Peak Umrah seasons in Q4 2024
- December recorded the highest number of international Umrah performers at 38.2 percent
- November saw the highest percentage of domestic pilgrims at 34 percent performing Umrah once.
In total, 16,924,689 pilgrims from outside Saudi Arabia performed Umrah in 2024.
Umrah is a non-mandatory Islamic pilgrimage that can be undertaken year-round, unlike Haj, which is an obligatory pilgrimage held once a year.
