Islam - Haj pilgrimage - $8.5 billion per year

Mecca in Saudi Arabia

Christianity - Vatican pilgrims - $308 million per year

Vatican City, Credit: Getty Images

Vatican city's income is generated solely from the sale of stamps, coins, medals, and tourist mementos; by fees for admission to museums; and by publication sales.





Hinduism - Tirupati pilgrims - $342 million per year

Tirupati in India





This number is just the donations that are made by the visitors at the Tirupati temple. There are no published figures from the total revenue made from the visitors to Tirupati temple.





2012, 2010 Tirupati has its share of stampedes over the years: 2015

The purpose of this article is to bring to the world's attention, the true cost paid by people for religion. As an indicator, I am pointing out the revenues made by the head institutions for the three major religions of the world.The revenues per year that Saudi Arabia makes from the nearly 2.5millions that visit Haj for pilgrimage every year:Expenses for pilgrims include housing, food and drink, gifts and phone billsAvg Revenue from international pilgrim: $4633Avg Revenue from domestic pilgrim: #1319One normally can expect some level of infrastructure to make sure that the pilgrims are accommodated safely, given the total income that they bring in for host countries. However, 118 people were killed last month in a crane collapse at Hajj , and today 200 (and counting) are dead in a deadly stampede Author note: This report is far from a complete analysis. This is just an introduction. Can do more research based on the reception of this report and feedback.