MUZDALIFAH — The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) announced on Friday that the total number of pilgrims who perform Hajj this year stood at 899,353. Out of these, there are 779,919 foreign pilgrims while domestic pilgrims, including citizens and residents, accounted for 119,434. According to the GASTAT figures, the number of male pilgrims out of the total number of domestic and foreign pilgrims reached 486,458, while the number of female pilgrims stood at 412,895. Regarding the statistics of pilgrims coming from outside Saudi Arabia, GASTAT report stated that majority of foreign pilgrims are from non-Arab Asian countries, representing 53.8 percent of the total pilgrims while pilgrims from Arab countries made up 21.4 percent. Pilgrims from non-Arab African countries constituted 13.2 percent and pilgrims from Europe, America and Australia reached 11.6 percent. As for the ways of pilgrims coming from outside the Kingdom, 738,680 pilgrims arrived through airports, while 35,210 pilgrims arrived through land ports, and 6,029 pilgrims through seaports. The authority indicated that the total number of the workforce participating in serving the pilgrims during the Hajj season from various sectors and government and private agencies accounted for 228,721 people, of whom 117,049 are permanent staff at a rate of 51.2 percent and 111,672 are temporary workers with a rate of 48.8 percent. With regard to health and medical services provided to the pilgrims during the Hajj season this year, the total workforce in this field reached 21,062, of whom 60 percent are men and 40 percent are women.
