BEIJING, June 14 -- China had more than 651,600 practicing lawyers at the end of 2022, an increase of 76,800 over 2021, or up 13 percent year on year, according to figures released by the Ministry of Justice.

The ministry said the number of legal firms nationwide totaled 38,600, 500 of which employed more than 100 lawyers.

Chinese lawyers handled over 8.24 million cases of litigation last year.

By the end of 2022, more than 56,000 legal service professionals worked in the country's 13,000-plus primary-level legal service institutions. They handled more than 122,000 legal aid cases in 2022, the ministry said.