China has 310 mln vehicles in 2017

BEIJING -- China had 310 million motor vehicles and 385 million vehicle drivers at the end of 2017, the Ministry of Public Security said Monday.

In 2017, the number of newly registered vehicles and drivers reached 33.52 million and 30.54 million respectively, according to the ministry's traffic management bureau.

The number of automobiles reached 217 million at the end of 2017, increasing 11.85 percent over 2016.

A total of 53 cities had over 1 million automobiles and 24 cities had over 2 million, the bureau said. Seven cities had more than 3 million automobiles, including Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai, Suzhou,Shenzhen and Zhengzhou.

With the increase of motor vehicles the number of drivers also grew rapidly, at an average of 24.67 million persons per year during the past five years.

Among all drivers, women accounted for 28.79 percent, 1.56 percentage points higher than in 2016.