"The total number of Muslims who performed pilgrimage (Haj) this year was 3,657,000, the head of the Haj Central Commission has said.The figure was reached through the scientific calculation of the number of pilgrims who went to Mina to symbolically stone the devil, a Haj requirement.A major indication is that around 500,000 people performed Haj without being officially registered as required by the Saudi laws.Saudi authorities last week said that 3,161,573 people had signed up to perform Haj.Foreigners made up more than half of the figure with 1,752,932 from 189 countries while the number of Saudi nationals and Saudi Arabia-based expatriates was 1,408,641. Most of the Saudi-based pilgrims were expatriates working in the kingdom."

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