BEIJING - The per capita net income for China's rural residents maintained an 8.9-percent annual growth rate during the 2006-2010 period, or 12.7 percent before price factor adjustments, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.

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The figure was 3.6 percentage points higher than that of the country's 10th Five-Year Program period (2001-2005), the NBS said in an online statement.

The per capita net income for rural residents rose 81.8 percent in five years before price factor adjustments to 5,919 yuan ($902) in 2010, said the statement.

This growth was attributed to increases in wages and transfer incomes as well as stable household, business and property incomes, it said.

Also, the per capita living expenditure of rural residents rose 7.8 percent annually during the period to 4,382 yuan in 2010 after deducting the price factors, it added.

The Engel's Coefficient, which measures the amount of money spent on food compared with total income, was down 4.4 percentage points over the past five years to 41.1 percent in rural areas in 2010, it said.

Meanwhile, grain and oil expenditures decreased while consumption of health foods such as dairy products increased. The rural per capita grain expenditure fell 13.1 percent during the period while the rural per capita expenditure for dairy products rose 8.6 percent, said the statement.

Expenditures on home appliances such as refrigerators, air conditioners and microwave ovens also saw substantial growth, according to the statement.