Okaz/Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has approved the quotas for pilgrims from all the countries around the world for the Hajj of 2022, Okaz/Saudi Gazette has learnt from well-informed sources.

Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, has the highest number of Hajj pilgrims. The ministry has allotted a quota of 100,051 for Indonesia while Pakistan got the second largest number with 81,132 pilgrims and India came third with 79,237 pilgrims. Bangladesh will send the fourth largest number of pilgrims with a quota of 57,585.

The African country of Angola is at the bottom of the list with the lowest number of 23 pilgrims. As for the Arab countries, Egypt tops with 35,375 pilgrims for the forthcoming annual pilgrimage of Hajj. Among the African countries, Nigeria got the largest chunk of 43,008. The quota allotted for Iran stood at 38,481 while Turkey’s quota accounts for 37,770.

According to the sources, the quota allotted for the United States of America is 9504, while the quotas for Russia 11318, China 9190, Thailand 5885, and Ukraine 91.

The ministry announced earlier that foreign pilgrims constitute 85 percent of the total one million pilgrims who will be allowed to perform Hajj this year. A total of 850,000 foreign pilgrims will be allowed to perform Hajj while domestic pilgrims’ number was restricted at 150,000. The total number of 850,000 foreign pilgrims constitutes only 45.2 percent of the actual quota of pilgrims that was allotted for each country before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Ministry of Hajj has set certain terms and conditions for the foreign pilgrims for this year’s Hajj. These include not allowing pilgrims above the age of 65 and the pilgrims have to take two doses of coronavirus vaccine.