Egypt ranked fourth in terms of the world’s top nationalities that visit Saudi Arabia last week to perform the Umrah (lesser pilgrimage), estimated at 510,119 pilgrims until 11 Ramadan (16 May), according to the cumulative statistics of the weekly Umrah Index of the ministry of hajj and umrah in Saudi Arabia.

As the holy month of Ramadan is the month of purifying the soul and body, many Muslims across the world prefer to perform Umrah during Ramadan, as it is considered equal to the Hajj (greater pilgrimage) in reward, which makes this month a high season for Umrah.

The ministry revealed that the Saudi Arabia’s Umrah index monitored 7.2m visa issuances until last Thursday, bringing the total number of arrivals to 6.6 million pilgrims.

It disclosed that Pakistan is still the top Umrah pilgrims, with 1.454 million pilgrims, followed by Indonesia with 922,018 Umrah pilgrims.

“Meanwhile, India ranked third in terms of the top nationalities which visit Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah with 621,742 pilgrims,” according to the ministry’s index.

Furthermore, in the fifth place comes Algeria with 325,744 Umrah pilgrims, while in the sixth place comes Yemen with 305,264 Umrah performers, followed by Turkey with 296,802, and then Malaysia with 265,924 Umrah performers.

Finally, Iraq ranked ninth with 250,780 Umrah pilgrims, followed by Jordan with 184,110 pilgrims.