HONG KONG, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- The total number of local companies registered in Hong Kong stood at around 1.38 million by the end of 2019, down about 1.5 percent year-on-year, official statistics showed on Sunday.

According to Companies Registry of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, a total of 124,741 local companies were newly registered under the Companies Ordinance last year.

In 2019, 2,000 non-Hong Kong companies that have newly established a place of business here were registered, an increase of 67.64 percent from a year ago.

The total number of registered non-Hong Kong companies reached 12,496 by the end of 2019, up 12.96 percent year-on-year.