SAUDI
ARABIAMakkah
Density distribution
1 person/m²6
Made by Méridien. Data: a mathematical reconstruction of crowd movement around the Kaaba, based on video analysis and scientific studies
Royal Commission for Makkah and Madinah
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Hajj and Umrah in DataHajj and Umrah in Data

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A million people. One day. Seven rounds of Tawaf around a single point. During Hajj, the Kaaba becomes the center of one of the most intense human flows on Earth.

The Mataf, the open area encircling the Kaaba, is designed to accommodate up to 107,000 pilgrims an hour, worshippers moving in slow circles from sunrise through the afternoon heat and deep into the night.

Pilgrims in dense crowds during Tawaf around the Kaaba

At peak moments, crowd density here can reach nine people per square meter, with pilgrims moving shoulder to shoulder. Here’s what it takes to manage a gathering on this scale, and how movement and safety are maintained around the Grand Mosque.

In 2025, around 1.67 million people performed Hajj.

Who gets to go
on Hajj and Umrah?

Let’s start with the basics. What is Hajj? Simply put, it is a sacred duty for every Muslim who can afford the journey and is healthy enough to make it. For most pilgrims, it is a once-in-a-lifetime obligation. Umrah, a voluntary pilgrimage that shares many of the same rites, can be performed at any time of year, and as many times as a person wishes.

In 2025, around 1.67 million people performed Hajj.

Saudi Arabia treats the Hajj season as a top national priority, deploying infrastructure, personnel, and technology on an extraordinary scale. Under Vision 2030, the Kingdom is targeting more than 30 million worshipers annually, backed by continuous investment in crowd management, transport, and health systems.

A world map of Muslim communities

How Hajj quotas are distributed

Hajj participation in recent years

The scale of Umrah
compared with Hajj

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In 2025, pilgrims arrived from 171 countries, making Hajj not only a religious ritual but a global movement, linked by geography, logistics, and faith.
Made by Méridien. Data: Pew Research CenterMade by Méridien. Data: calculations based on open sourcesMade by Méridien. Data: KAPSARC Data Portal, General Authority For Statistics

But with about two billion Muslims worldwide, how can Saudi Arabia, where the holy places of Islam are located, welcome pilgrims from such a widely distributed population?

Math is the answer. Hajj is managed through a quota system. Each Muslim-majority country receives a fixed allocation, roughly one place for every 1,000 Muslims in its population.

Indonesia, for example, has around 230 million Muslims, which gives it more than 230,000 pilgrims a year, the largest Hajj quota in the world. The same logic applies across Muslim and Arab countries, ensuring fair representation and keeping arrivals manageable. The global quota map shows where Hajj pilgrims come from, and the scale of delegations arriving from different continents.

In 2025, around 1.67 million people performed Hajj. About 166,000 were domestic pilgrims from Saudi Arabia itself. Usually, domestic pilgrims make up around 10–12% of the total Hajj participants. Another 20% come from Arabic-speaking countries.

The largest single share, just over half (54%), arrives from non-Arab Asia: Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and the wider region. In 2025, this group totalled about 1.1 million people.

Africa (excluding the Arab states) contributes about 12%. Only around 2% travel from the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world.

Hajj numbers began rising again after the COVID-19 pandemic, when pilgrimage was limited to Saudi residents. As international flights resumed, the number of pilgrims gradually increased. For now, the record still stands at about 3.16 million pilgrims, reached in 2012. It probably won’t take long to beat it.

Because the Hajj quota is roughly one place per 1,000 Muslims, most believers will never secure a spot. For many, Umrah is the more accessible option: it can be performed throughout the year, without the same seasonal limits or fixed national quotas. In 2023, the number of Umrah pilgrims reached about 27 million.

In recent years, Umrah has drawn around ten times as many pilgrims as Hajj.

So, how do you manage Hajj and Umrah at this scale? How do you move millions of pilgrims through Holy Sites without turning every entrance into an endless queue? And the bigger question is how to protect safety and order without disturbing the atmosphere of devotion that defines the pilgrimage?

In recent years, Umrah has drawn around ten times as many pilgrims as Hajj.

The answer lies in careful planning, precise execution, and attention to detail, especially for Umrah, when pilgrims visit the Grand Mosque throughout the year. The system begins before pilgrims arrive, with visa procedures, flight coordination, airport movement, dedicated buses, and accommodation organised around fixed schedules. On the ground, the work focuses on keeping movement smooth, guiding pilgrims through clear routes, and preventing crowding at key points.

How the Makkah Route makes the pilgrimage more efficient

Participating cities
Joining in 2026

Hajj pilgrims using
the Makkah Route Initiative

2025
314 337
2024
322 901
2023
242 270
Made by Méridien. Data: General Authority For Statistics

During Hajj season, Umrah is suspended entirely, and the whole infrastructure shifts to support the main pilgrimage. For the rest of the year, a wide range of measures helps make Umrah easier, including digital visas, the Nusuk platform, and modern systems for managing pilgrim services.

As part of Saudi Vision 2030, the Makkah Route Initiative allows pilgrims from selected countries to clear passport and customs checks at their departure airport, arriving in Saudi Arabia with paperwork already completed, ready to begin their spiritual journey without administrative delays.

What happens when Hajj falls on the hottest months?

By 2100, parts of the Arabian Peninsula could warm by up to 9°C.

In some years, Hajj falls in the hottest weeks of the year, with temperatures in Makkah reaching 45–48°C. This happens because Hajj follows the Islamic lunar calendar, which is about 10–11 days shorter than the solar year. As a result, the pilgrimage dates shift earlier each year and complete a full circuit through all four seasons every 33 years. One cycle takes Hajj into midsummer, the next pulls it back into spring or winter, and then the pattern repeats.

By 2100, parts of the Arabian Peninsula could warm by up to 9°C.

How Hajj dates move through the year

Hajj nights have become 5-6°C hotter over the past 30 years

66 years ago
33 years ago
Now
+42°Cmax+30ºCmin+24°C
Made by Méridien. Data: Open-Meteo

Let’s explain this with our 3D model. Hajj always falls on the same dates in the Islamic lunar calendar, the 8th to the 13th of Dhu al-Hijjah, but the lunar year is 11 days shorter than the solar year used in the Gregorian calendar. As a result, the Hajj shifts earlier each year, steadily moving through the seasons.

In 2025, it fell on 4–9 June; in 2024, it was 14–19 June. The same pattern repeats as you look further back or ahead: each year, the dates slide about 11 days earlier.

It takes about 33 years to complete a full cycle. The last time Hajj fell in early June was 1992, and before that, 1960. Each return brings the same dates, but rarely the same conditions.

Sixty-six years ago, the heat was already severe, with temperatures reaching 42–45°C on peak days in Makkah. But in today’s summer months, the temperature risk has grown even further.

Hajj nights have become 5-6°C hotter over the past 30 years

66 years ago
33 years ago
Now
+42°Cmax+30ºCmin+24°C

And climate models suggest the coming cycles of Hajj will be even hotter.

How does Saudi Arabia reduce heat during Hajj?

Cooling technologies have made conditions more comfortable for millions of people.

So what do you do when the weather refuses to ease up? You stop treating heat as background and start treating it as a design constraint. Routes are planned with shade in mind. Surfaces are chosen for what they do under direct sunlight. Waiting areas, tents and walkways are built around the basic question of how long people will be exposed and how much relief you can provide along the way.

Cooling technologies have made conditions more comfortable for millions of people.

That is the logic behind the cooling measures now spread across the sites. They’re not add-ons or nice-to-haves. They are part of how Hajj is engineered: small interventions, repeated at scale, to make the environment more manageable for millions of people moving through it.

To cope with extreme heat, Saudi authorities have built cooling into almost every aspect of Hajj. Across the sites, misting systems, shade structures and air-conditioned tents reduce heat stress, while more than 84,000 square meters of roads in Arafat are now paved with light-reflective materials that bounce back up to 40% more sunlight and lower surface temperatures by around 12°C.

How to beat the heat

How to beat the heat

How to beat the heat: annotated diagram of cooling measures at Hajj sites
Mina’s tent cityMina’s tent city, the world’s largest evaporative-cooling system, hosts over 50,000 desert coolers.
Heat-reducing roadsHeat-reducing road surfaces reflect up to 40% more sunlight, cutting surface temperatures by around 12°C.
Shade canopiesLightweight shade canopies now line key routes during Hajj, reducing heat stress for millions of pilgrims.
Misting fansMisting fans can lower temperatures by around 6°C.
Water
Cooler

Made by Méridien

Made by Méridien

Desert coolers cut energy use by about 35% in the Mina tent city.

In Mina’s tent city, Hajj authorities have installed more than 50,000 desert coolers — the world’s largest evaporative-cooling setup. Unlike refrigerated air conditioning, this type of cooling is gentler on skin, eyes and airways. The upgrade also cut energy use by about 35%.

Desert coolers cut energy use by about 35% in the Mina tent city.

Another notable upgrade is a 4-kilometer cooled pedestrian path leading to Mount Arafat. Built with advanced paving that reduces vibrations, it makes the route smoother and more comfortable for people with disabilities and those traveling with them.

And in the heart of Makkah, Saudi authorities have installed 244 misting fans in the Grand Mosque courtyards. Using fog-cooling, they absorb heat from the air and can lower temperatures by around 6°C.

Made by Méridien. Data: Ministry of Municipalities and Housing © 2025
SAUDI
ARABIAMakkah

Transport has been redesigned with the same logic. The Mashaer Metro links Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina along an 18-kilometer line, supported by more than 400 desert coolers at stations.

In 2025, it carried 1.87 million passengers during Hajj, with trains reaching speeds of up to 80 km/h, reducing the Mina–Arafat journey to approximately 20 minutes. Shuttle buses and shaded walkways fill the gaps.

Beyond the Holy Sites, the Haramain high-speed railway connects Mecca with Madinah, Jeddah and King Abdullah Economic City over 450 kilometers, with station interiors kept at 28°C and platforms cooled by large fans and misting devices.

Today, more than 550,000 Hajj and Umrah pilgrims in Makkah use the Balady app.

How technology supports Hajj

In recent years, Hajj has undergone a major digital shift. One of the clearest examples is the Balady platform, designed around geospatial data and interactive maps to help pilgrims move between the Holy Sites with greater ease. Today, more than 550,000 Hajj and Umrah pilgrims in Makkah use the app.

Today, more than 550,000 Hajj and Umrah pilgrims in Makkah use the Balady app.

Balady+ offers Saudi Arabia’s first interactive 3D map, with detailed views of key landmarks such as the Grand Mosque and the Jamarat Bridge. It goes beyond “turn left, turn right” by marking entrances and exits, so walking routes lead to the correct access point. The interface also switches between day and night modes for clearer visibility.

During Hajj, conditions can change quickly. Balady+ runs on a 40-minute update cycle and reflects sudden road closures and traffic reversals through automated integration with the Royal Commission. It’s designed to work at pilgrimage scale and at human scale: it can guide pilgrims to a specific tent number within Arafat, Mina and Muzdalifah, backed by an updated directory of more than 11,000 landmarks, including hospitals, historical sites, water stations, restrooms, and train and bus stops.

Map of Makkah region with Jamarat, Mina, Muzdalifah, and Arafat
Kaaba
Jamarat
Mina
Muzdalifah
Arafat

In the next edition of Balady Atlas, we will take a closer look at the Hajj journey.