The following are facts and figures about the living standard of China's rural residents in the ninth Five-Year Plan period (1996-2000), provided by the State Development Planning Commission.

The per-capita net income of rural residents increased 632 yuan since 1995 to 2,210 yuan in 1999, an average year-on-year rise of 4 percent.

Foodstuff accounted for 52.6 percent of rural people's total index expenditure in 1999, down 6 percentage points from 1995.

Per-capita living space of rural residents averaged 24.5 square meter in 1999, as compared to 21 square meters in 1995.

On average, every rural household had a television set in 1999.

(People's Daily 10/02/2000)