Every year the figures behind Arbaeen are hard to hold in the mind — and 2026 is no different. As pilgrims converge on Karbala, officials are describing one of the largest turnouts yet for the walk that closes the mourning of Imam Hussain (as).
Around 22 million pilgrims
Iraqi authorities have said they expect approximately 22 million pilgrims for this year’s Arbaeen, including close to five million visitors from outside Iraq, according to Iraqi News. To put that in perspective, that is a gathering many times larger than the annual Hajj — assembled, extraordinarily, without a single central organiser.
1.8 million foreign pilgrims, 172 nationalities
In the weeks before the observance, the movement was already immense. Lt. Gen. Saad Maan, head of Iraq’s Security Media Cell, reported that 1,813,188 foreign visitors from 172 nationalities entered the country between 16 June and 26 July, as reported by Shafaq News — with arrivals expected to keep building right up to the day itself.
172 nationalities is the detail worth pausing on. This is not a regional event. It is a genuinely global one, drawing people from more countries than sit in the United Nations General Assembly.
Millions more from the region
Neighbouring Iran alone expected up to six million of its citizens to take part, with more than two million registered in advance, according to reporting by the Tehran Times. Pilgrims also travel from across the Gulf, South Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
The number that matters most: zero
Amid the millions, one figure is easy to miss — the price a pilgrim pays for food, water and shelter along the way: nothing. The road to Karbala is lined with thousands of volunteer camps, the mawakib, whose families save all year for the privilege of serving strangers for free. It is this, more than the crowd size, that leaves the deepest impression on newcomers.
Numbers at a glance
- ~22 million — total pilgrims expected in 2026
- ~5 million — visitors from outside Iraq
- 1,813,188 — foreign pilgrims arrived by 26 July
- 172 — nationalities represented
- ~80 km — the walk from Najaf to Karbala
Statistics can only gesture at Arbaeen. But they do tell you one true thing: whatever draws people here, it draws them in numbers the modern world rarely sees. If you want to understand what all these millions are walking toward, start with the story behind the day.