Hajj Quota by Country 2024

Each year, Hajj pilgrims undertake one of the world’s most famous and culturally significant pilgrimages – the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Mecca is famous for being the birthplace of Islam and is widely accepted as the place where Mohammed first received Allah’s sacred revelations. Muslims around the world turn to face Mecca when they pray, and it is considered very important that Islamic devotees complete a Hajj pilgrimage at once over the course of a lifetime.

However, the sheer number of people who do this each year requires Saudi Arabia to set national quotas allocating a specific number of annual pilgrimage slots to each country. Here’s a look at how that breaks down from nation to nation.

Country-by-Country Hajj Quotas

In 2023, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca took place between June 26th and July 1st. During that time, millions of Muslims undertook the famous journey from various nations worldwide. Examples of the quotas assigned to different countries in 2023 include the following:

Saudi Arabia assigns Hajj pilgrimage slots on a country-by-country basis according to the average size of the resident Muslim population. The more resident Muslims in a country, the more slots that country is likely to get.

However, other factors can also affect how many slots a country may receive. For instance, a fairly high number of devout Islamic devotees live in Iran. However, the political relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia remains tense, resulting in a lower designated quota than might otherwise be expected.

Typically, the highest numbers of Hajj pilgrims come to Mecca from Indonesia, with Pakistan and India coming in second and third.

Reasons for the Annual Hajj Quotas

Although Hajj quotas always vary from year to year, they remain essential for several crucial reasons. To begin with, assigning a quota to each country helps facilitate fairness, as each Muslim is encouraged to make this pilgrimage at some point during their lifetime, regardless of where they live.

The quotas also help ensure each year’s Hajj pilgrims are able to make their journey safely. Quotas help prevent the possibility of overcrowding, as well as limit the likelihood that extenuating political factors might cause problems for either the pilgrims or for Saudi Arabia.

The general idea is to welcome as many pilgrims as possible while also managing the logistics of allowing hundreds of thousands of people to flow into and out of Mecca during a short period of time.