More than two million people have registered as descendants of Confucius, tripling the size of the celebrated Chinese philosopher's family tree, state media reported Monday.

The new list, which was last updated in 1930, has rocketed by more than 1.3 million, the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee (CGCC) said, according to a report in the China Daily.

The updated list, which includes overseas and female relatives for the first time, will be published next year to coincide with the 2,560th anniversary of the thinker's birth, the report said.