Primary school students play at Binhu National Forest Park, April 21, 2017. (Photo: China Daily)

BEIJING - The number of private schools in China reached 183,500 in 2018, an increase of 5,815 over the previous year, official statistics showed.

Private schools accounted for 35.36 percent of the total schools in the country, according to a statistical report on China's education in 2018 issued by the Ministry of Education.

There were 53.78 million students studying in private schools in 2018, up 5.03 percent from 2017, the report said.

Among the private schools, 165,800 were kindergartens which took care of nearly 26.4 million children last year, according to the report.