If the roads seem more crowded, there’s a reason

The number of registered vehicles in Korea has surpassed the 19 million mark, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport reported yesterday.

According to the data, 19,020,869 vehicles were registered as of the first quarter of this year. The ministry expects the number to reach 19.5 million by the end of the year and 20 million in the first half of 2015.

The number of registered vehicles in the country grew 7 percent to 8 percent annually until 2002 but has slowed to 2 percent to 3 percent a year since 2004, according to the ministry.

So far, 781,319 imported cars were registered as of the first quarter, a 4.1 percent market share. However, the rate of growth for foreign cars is nearly eight times that of domestic cars, the ministry said.