How many people have climbed Kilimanjaro?

More than 69,000 people set out to climb Kilimanjaro in the 2024/2025 season, up from more than 60,000 the season before, according to the national park's chief conservator, Angela Nyaki (Daily News, April 2026). That makes it by far the most climbed of the 7 summits. Nobody publishes how many of them reach the top, or a total since the first ascent in 1889.

How many reach the summit

The park does not publish summit figures, and the success rates operators quote are their own. What is clear is that the number of days matters more than anything: on a five-day climb many people turn back with altitude sickness, while on an eight-day climb most reach the top. How long does it take to climb Kilimanjaro? has the figures.

Why so many

Kilimanjaro needs no climbing skill, has a season that lasts most of the year, and is reached by a direct flight to its own airport. An ordinary, fit hiker can stand on top, which no other of the 7 summits allows. The same ease is its danger: people die on it every year, almost always of the altitude, as How many people have died on Kilimanjaro? explains.

How the first climbers got there is in our guide's History of the mountain, and how hard the climb really is in How hard is it to climb Kilimanjaro?