Skip to main content

China’s fast growing vehicle population will see further congestion

China’s fast growing vehicle population is posing major challenges for traffic management, especially in major urban areas. Traffic congestion is already a serious problem in the capital Beijing and other major cities; Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzen, Tianjin, Dongugan, Hangzhou and Chengdu.
July 13, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

China’s fast growing vehicle population is posing major challenges for traffic management, especially in major urban areas. Traffic congestion is already a serious problem in the capital Beijing and other major cities; Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzen, Tianjin, Dongugan, Hangzhou and Chengdu. Official data from China’s Ministry of Public Security shows that in the first half of 2017, 9.38 million new cars were registered, bringing the total car population to 205 million.

By the end of June 2017, China had 328 million car drivers, according to the Ministry of Public Security’s traffic management bureau. Meanwhile China now has a total of 304 million registered motor vehicles and 371 million motor vehicle drivers, as of the end of June 2017.

The data from the traffic management bureau shows that 49 Chinese cities have more than one million cars in use. Meanwhile 23 Chinese cities have over two million cars in use. The problem is particularly acute in Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Suzhou, which each have over 3 million cars in use.

In all, China has 168 million small cars on its roads, while there are 22.7 million trucks in use. The provinces of Guangdong, Henan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan and Zhejiang all have in excess of 20 million cars on their respective road networks.

Related Content

  • Paying for the roads we drive
    February 6, 2018
    All around the world, vehicle numbers are growing fast and existing roads are seeing increasing congestion. This rapid increase in vehicle ownership is particularly acute in the developing world. Reductions in actual vehicle purchase costs have resulted in an explosion in vehicle numbers using the roads. In the past, governments were able to fund road expansion programmes from their own sources. The most ambitious of these came when the US Government commenced construction of the Interstate system in 1956,
  • Chile’s growing traffic volumes are a growing problem
    May 9, 2016
    Chile’s growing traffic volumes are creating a growing problem for traffic management. In many urban areas in Chile congestion is increasing at a rapid rate. Capital Santiago is afflicted particularly badly in this respect. Traffic jams are now frequent on the main interurban routes in Chile, especially on toll roads, and the number of vehicles travelling on these roads continues to rise month after month, leading to major concern.
  • China's Roads Convention focuses on sustainability
    February 9, 2012
    IRF joins with key Chinese transport authorities to lead the way in efforts to make sustainable rural mobility, transport and access a reality for millions throughout the world.
  • UK’s roads most congested in Europe
    November 30, 2016
    The results of a European traffic study should surprise few UK drivers. According to the research by Inrix, the UK has Europe’s most congested roads. The study evaluated traffic densities in 123 major cities across Europe and revealed 20,375 areas in the UK where traffic congestion is a problem. By comparison Germany had less than half as many areas where traffic is a problem. This is in spite of the fact that Germany has a significantly higher population than the UK. According to the study, a spot where