Traffic moves on a road in Beijing, China, on Nov. 7, 2014. The rising number of... Read More
There are now more than 300 million motorists in China, compared with the U.S. population of 319 million, according to Chinese public security ministry and U.S. census data. It took just four years to add 100 million new drivers in China, and 35 of its cities now have more than 1 million vehicles, with major urban centers like Beijing and Shenzhen having twice that number, the ministry said in a statement on its website.
The rising number of motorists will boost vehicle demand while increasing the burden on cities already struggling to cope with pollution and congestion. The public security ministry said separately this week that it is looking at making it easier to get a license by removing the
need for mandatory driver’s education classes.
“Congestion is already pretty bad, especially in tier-one cities,” said Lin Huaibin, a Shanghai-based analyst at IHS Automotive, referring to the biggest metropolitan areas. “The government is already trying to tackle pollution issues.”
Automakers are expected to sell about 23 million new vehicles this year, according to a forecast by the state-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou have implemented caps on the number of new autos as part of measures to control tailpipe emissions.
Even as the number of drivers has risen, cases of major traffic accidents have fallen, the ministry said. Deaths caused by speeding accidents dropped 36 percent in the past two years, while those due to drunk driving decreased 39 percent, it said.
(An earlier version of this story corrected the company affiliation in the fourth paragraph.)
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