BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- China's copyright registrations for computer software hit a record high of 1.1 million in 2018, up 48 percent year-on-year, according to a report issued by the Copyright Protection Center of China (CPCC) Thursday.

Last year, copyright registrations of software in popular areas all registered year-on-year increases, ranging from mobile phone apps, games, financial, medical, Internet-of-Things and geographical information software to cloud computing and information security software.

Among them, copyright registrations of mobile phone apps topped the growth chart with a 76 percent year-on-year increase, accounting for 25 percent of the overall software registrations in 2018, the report says.

South China's Guangdong Province led the country in terms of the number of software copyright registrations for three consecutive years, with 270,000 registrations in 2018, which accounted for 24 percent of the total registrations nationwide, it adds.

The CPCC says that by promoting excellent software and their developers, the center aims to help create an environment wherein originality, knowledge and innovation are respected and encouraged.