BEIJING — A total of 492,185 international students from 196 countries and regions studied in China in 2018, the Ministry of Education said on April 12.

The number increased by 3,013 over that of 2017, said a ministry statement.

They studied in 1,004 colleges in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

About 60 percent of the international students were from Asia, with the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Pakistan ranking in the top three, the statement said.

About 63,000 of them were sponsored by Chinese government scholarships, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the number of Chinese studying overseas reached 662,100 last year, 53,700 more than that in 2017, according to the ministry in a statement last month.

Among those, 65,800 were sponsored by public funding while 596,300 were self-funded.