BEIJING, Jan. 11 -- The number of registered new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China hit 13.1 million by the end of 2022, an increase of over 67 percent year on year, statistics by the Ministry of Public Security showed Wednesday.

A total of 5.35 million NEVs were newly registered across the country in 2022, up more than 81 percent compared with the previous year and accounting for over 23 percent of all new automobile registrations.

In 2022, China registered 34.78 million motor vehicles, bringing the national motor vehicle ownership to 417 million units. Of the newly registered motor vehicles, 23.23 million were cars. The total number of cars climbed to 319 million, an increase of 17.52 million or 5.81 percent over 2021.

The number of licensed motor vehicle drivers reached 502 million, of which 464 million were car drivers, the ministry said. In 2022, 29.23 million people obtained their driver's licenses.

Altogether 84 Chinese cities had more than 1 million cars by the end of 2022, five more compared with the previous year. Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Shanghai had over 5 million cars. Suzhou, Zhengzhou, Xi'an, and Wuhan had over 4 million cars.