DALLAS (AP) – Sales of sport utility vehicles jumped 56 percent between 1997 and 2002, a new government report says, resulting in one SUV for every eight licensed drivers.

SUVs also drove more miles than ever before – 315 billion miles in 2002, up 100 billion miles in five years, according to the report released Thursday by the Census Bureau.

“The headline news out of this is that there are now over 24 million SUVs … up from 15 million” in 1997, said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon. “That’s an impressive change. … It’s important the way that it is changing the makeup of the vehicle inventory of this country.”

The 56 percent growth in SUV registrations actually marked a sharp drop from the 81 percent growth of the previous five years, according to the Census Bureau.

Kincannon said that probably reflected a degree of market saturation.

Along with 24.2 million SUVs, Americans registered 38 million pickups in 2002, making the nation’s vehicle fleet much larger. Not surprisingly, the biggest states – California and Texas – had the most SUVs. Sales grew fastest in Tennessee, Georgia and Indiana.

Kincannon released the report on SUVs, trucks and minivans at a news conference at a Lincoln-Mercury dealer in Dallas.

SUV critics said the location of the event amounted to a tacit endorsement of large, inefficient vehicles.

“It’s disturbing that a top Bush administration official would celebrate our oil addiction by helping tout SUV sales,” said Daniel Becker, a Sierra Club analyst.

Kincannon said he looks for visually interesting locales to release Census reports, citing recent examples of a day care center and World War II memorial.

The Census Bureau report covered a period when gasoline prices were comparatively low. With gas now at more than $2 a gallon, sales have slowed.

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On the Net:

Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov

AP-ES-12-02-04 2057EST