China has succeeded in improving the people's standard of living and in establishing on the whole a relatively affluent society over the past five years, said Premier Zhu Rongji Wednesday.

Zhu said the remarks in the Report on the Work of the Government he delivered at the opening of the First Session of the 10th National People's Congress.

According to the report, the income of urban and rural residents grew continuously in the last five years.

The per capita disposable income of urban dwellers went up from 5,160 yuan in 1997 to 7,703 yuan in 2002, an average annual increase of 8.6 percent in real terms. The per capita net income of rural households increased from 2,090 yuan to 2,476 yuan, up by an annual average of 3.8 percent in real terms.

The balance of savings deposits of urban and rural residents rose from 4.6 trillion yuan to 8.7 trillion yuan. The number of rural poor decreased from 49.6 million to 28.2 million.

In these five years, the economy grew relatively fast and prices remained fairly low, resulting in more tangible benefits for the people, the report says.

During these five years, the level of consumption rose noticeably. Urban and rural markets have been thriving. The total volume of retail sales of consumer goods in the country increased from 2.73 trillion yuan in 1997 to 4.1 trillion yuan in 2002, up by an annual average of 10.5 percent in real terms.

The per capita living space of urban dwellers increased from 17. 8 square meters to nearly 22 square meters, and that for rural dwellers, from 22.5 square meters to 26.5 square meters. Such household appliances as TV sets, washing machines and refrigerators became more common, and an increasing number of families acquired computers and cars. The number of public facilities and the per capita green area have grown. As conditions of medical care continued to improve, people's health has come to a higher level with the average life expectancy reaching 71.8 years in 2002, close to that of a medium-level developed country, the report says.

(Xinhua)