China's software sector generated 1.3 trillion yuan (205 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue in the first nine months of 2011, up 31.7 percent year-on-year, new official figures show.

The revenue is close to the total created in 2010, which was 1.34 trillion yuan, said the report, published Tuesday by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on its website.

The growth rate was 1.4 percentage points higher compared with the same period last year, the report said.

Software sales in September alone rose 39.3 percent year-on-year to 188.2 billion yuan, the highest this year, according to the report.

In January, China's State Council announced a series of measures to boost the development of software and integrated circuit industries.

The State Council said more support would be given to encouraging research and development in the sectors.