The number of private companies accounted for 84.1 percent of all enterprises in 2018 in China, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

China had 15.61 million private companies by the end of 2018, up 178.6 percent from 10.01 million by the end of 2013, according to the fourth national economic census report.

Statistics show China had 242,000 State-controlled enterprises by the end of 2018, up 10.9 percent from 24,000 by the end of 2013.

State-controlled enterprises remained the backbone of national economic development, with the number of employees accounting for 15.7 percent of the total, though the number of State-controlled companies only accounted for 1.3 percent of the total, the report said.

China's proportion of legal entities in the tertiary industry has increased steadily with 17.16 million, accounting for 78.8 percent of the total by the end of 2018, up 4.1 percentage points from the end of 2013.

About 210.68 million people worked at legal entities in the tertiary industry, accounting for 55 percent of the total, up 9.1 percentage points than the end of 2013.

The number of companies in emerging industries grew rapidly, especially those in information transmission, software and information technology services, construction, scientific research and technology services, leasing and business services.