Saudi Arabia Bans Children from Hajj 2025

In the latest Saudi Arabia news, the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has announced that children will be banned from attending Hajj for the 2025 pilgrimage season. The ministry also confirmed that first-time pilgrims traveling to Saudi Arabia will be given priority over travelers who’ve performed the sacred journey before.

During Hajj 2024, over 1.8 million pilgrims made the journey to Mecca, including men, women and children. However, the dangers of overcrowding and extreme heat have led to mortalities in previous years. This year, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has decided to ban children from Hajj in an attempt to safeguard them from these dangers.

In addition to this newly imposed ban, Mecca news reports confirm that first-time pilgrims will be given priority over repeat travelers for Hajj 2025. This means that they will have priority over travelers who’ve attended Hajj in previous years, hopefully enabling more Muslims to make the sacred journey at least once in their lives.

This announcement follows recent Saudi news of new visa changes for pilgrims traveling from certain countries for Hajj. These changes will prevent pilgrims from abusing multi-entry visas, restricting them to 30-day single-entry visas only.