The total sum of public donations in China reached 82.7 billion yuan (12.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, up 26.4 percent year on year, the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) announced Thursday.

Apart from monetary donations, a total of 9.31 million people also provided 25 million hours of charity volunteer work.

By the end of 2016, 14.8 million people in urban China were living on the basic living allowance, while in China's countryside, the number was 45.9 million, according to the MCA.

The China Welfare Lottery, affiliated with the MCA, last year grossed a total revenue of more than 206 billion yuan from selling lottery tickets, among which 26.8 billion yuan had been spent on social aid projects and other national social welfare.