China's population increased by 10.99 million in 1999 to bring the total population of the country to 1.259 billion by the end of 1999, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.

The NBS said in a bulletin that the country's 19.09 million new births in 1999 represented a birth rate of 1.523 percent.

The population's natural growth rate was 0.877 percent in 1999,down 0.076 percent from 1998.

Of the total population, 388.92 million, or 30.9 percent are living in urban areas, with the rest 870.17 million, or 69.1 percent, live in rural areas.

Population in the age group of 0-14 accounts for 25.4 percent of the total, while those above 65 year old accounts for 6.9 percent.

An average family in China was made up of 3.58 persons in 1999,according to the NBS.

The standard of living for urban dwellers improved remarkably in 1999, thanks to increased salaries for civil servants, and higher level of allowances for laid-off workers and unemployed and to the increased minimum income for city dwellers, the NBS said.

In the year, the disposable income for urban dwellers averaged 5,854 yuan in 1999, an increase of 9.3 percent, taking into consideration of the price fall.

Poverty relief in rural areas made headway in 1999, resulting in helping some 8 million people above the poverty line.

The pure income for rural dwellers averaged 2,210 yuan in 1999,up 3.8 percent from a year ago.

Housing for the Chinese people kept improving in 1999. About 500 million square meters of new houses were built in urban areas, and 870 million square meters in rural areas.

Travel has become a new consumption fashion. A total of 719 million tourists were reported in 1999, rising 3.6 percent over 1998. The average spending on travel for Chinese was 227 yuan.

The social security network kept expanding in 1999, with 93 percent of the workers laid off were registered at the re-employment centers and 90 percent of them were receiving basic allowances.

Nationwide, there are 94.33 million workers and 29 million retired ones covered by basic pension insurance.

By the end of 1999, 667 cities and 1,682 counties have established the minimum income system, benefiting 5.257 million people.