15.2 Million Pilgrims Perform Umrah in First Quarter of 2026
More than 15.2 million pilgrims performed Umrah in Saudi Arabia during Q1 2026, including 5.7 million international pilgrims.
Saudi Arabia recorded more than 15.2 million Umrah pilgrims during the first quarter of 2026, according to the latest statistics released by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT).
Male pilgrims accounted for 59.4% of the total, while females represented 40.6%. Saudi nationals made up 28.9% of all Umrah pilgrims during the three-month period.
More than 5.7 million pilgrims came from outside Saudi Arabia. Of these, over 2.7 million were male and more than 2.9 million were female.
Air travel was by far the main mode of entry for international pilgrims, with 86% arriving through airports. Another 13.6% entered through land crossings and 0.4% through seaports.
Meanwhile, more than 9.4 million domestic pilgrims performed Umrah during the quarter. This included over 4.3 million Saudi citizens and more than 5 million non-Saudis, representing 46.5% and 53.5% respectively.
#GASTAT publishes Umrah Statistics for Q1 of 2026https://t.co/0N5oAFEdFl pic.twitter.com/BxDf6bRrOt — الهيئة العامة للإحصاء (@Stats_Saudi) August 23, 2026
Among domestic pilgrims, 75.4% performed Umrah with their families, while 17.2% travelled individually and 7.4% went with friends.
The Makkah region accounted for the largest number of domestic pilgrims, with more than 4 million, or 43% of the total. Riyadh followed with more than 2 million pilgrims, representing 21.4%.
Most domestic pilgrims performed Umrah once during the quarter. More than 9 million did so once, while over 438,000, or 4.6%, performed Umrah more than once.
January recorded the highest number of international pilgrims, with more than 2.2 million, while February saw the highest number of domestic pilgrims at more than 4.5 million.
The figures also showed that more than 3.7 million international visitors travelled to Madinah during the first quarter of 2026.
In addition, more than 1.9 million domestic visitors visited Madinah for religious purposes. Around 975,000 of them were Saudis, while more than 1 million were non-Saudis.
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