BEIJING - China's average per capita disposable income grew 9.1 percent year-on-year to 19,342 yuan ($2,930) in the first three quarters of the year, data showed Thursday.

Deducting inflation, the real growth was 7.5 percent, 1.2 percentage points higher than that for the same period last year.

The figure exceeded the country's GDP growth of 6.9 percent for January-September, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

NBS data showed the income gap between China's urban and rural residents continued to narrow, with the real growth of per capita disposable income in rural areas 0.9 percentage point higher than that in urban regions.

The average per capita disposable income for rural residents reached 9,778 yuan from January to September, up 7.5 percent after deducting price factors, while that of urban residents increased to 27,430 yuan, up 6.6 percent after deducting price factors.

Per capita consumption averaged 13,162 yuan, up 7.5 percent from the same period last year. The inflation-adjusted growth was 5.9 percent.

More rural workers left their hometowns in the first three quarters, according to NBS data.

Some 179.69 million rural laborers were working outside their hometowns as of the end of September, up by 1.8 percent or 3.2 million people compared with one year earlier. Their average monthly income grew 7.0 percent to 3,459 yuan in the third quarter.