Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) on Tuesday released its official Hajj 2025 Statistical Bulletin, revealing that 420,070 individuals from both the public and private sectors, including security agencies, served the 1,673,230 pilgrims who performed Hajj this year.

Of those working in the service of pilgrims, 92% were men and 8% were women.

The total also included 34,540 volunteers — male and female — who collectively contributed 2,134,398 volunteer hours within the holy sites during the Hajj season.

GASTAT’s data also showed that 314,337 pilgrims benefited from the “Makkah Route Initiative,” representing 20.9% of all foreign pilgrims. The initiative, launched in 2017, streamlines the arrival process for pilgrims from eight countries by conducting pre-travel immigration procedures.

The bulletin reaffirmed previously released figures, stating that a total of 1,673,230 pilgrims performed Hajj this year. This included 1,506,576 foreign pilgrims arriving through various entry points and 166,654 domestic pilgrims, comprised of both Saudi citizens and residents.

Out of the total pilgrim count, 877,841 were men and 795,389 were women.

GASTAT said its data relies on administrative records from the Ministry of Interior, providing a high degree of reliability and accuracy. These records cover the full range of pilgrim demographics and services provided, following a statistical methodology applied consistently over the past five years.