China’s per capita residential space has reached 40.8 square meters, reported Economic Information Daily on Wednesday.

The figure for urban residents stood at only 6.7 square meters in 1978, but it has risen to more than 38 square meters during this year. The per capita floor area of rural residents already hit 45.8 square meters in 2016, said Ni Pengfei, director of the City and Competitiveness Research Center, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

24-year old Yang Qing has seen her living space expanding over the past years. She and her other four family members used to be packed in a small single room that had an area of only 40 square meters. But now they have moved into a 150-square-meter house.

“I have my own room now. We also have a library, living room and dining hall,” she said.

China has also made notable progress in improving people’s life quality. 39.1 million housing units in shanty areas have been rebuilt, and more than 100 million people have moved into new houses over the past 10 years, as indicated by the report of the CASS National Academy of Economic Strategy.

Researcher Jiang Xuemei at the CASS City and Competitiveness Research Center suggested that upon the second housing reform, the government should also take measures to tackle structural issues including the effective management of the rental market while building houses to improve livelihoods.