CHINA'S energy consumption per 10,000 yuan (US$1,322) of gross domestic product was 1.206 tons of coal equivalent in 2006, down 1.33 percent from 2005, Xie Fuzhan, director of the National Bureau of Statistics, said yesterday.
The revised figures compare with the earlier figure of 1.21 tons of coal equivalent, down 1.23 percent, released by the statistics agency in February this year.
Unit consumption fell because China's GDP in 2006 was revised upwards by 146.4 billion yuan to 21.0871 trillion yuan, said an NBS official.
It was the first time energy consumption for every 10,000 yuan of GDP has declined in China since 2003, indicating the country was developing in a way that is less wasteful and less damaging to the environment, said Xie.
Twenty-nine of the Chinese mainland's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities saw their per unit GDP energy consumption decline last year, while northwestern Qinghai Province reported a rise of 1.51 percent.
Figures for the Tibet Autonomous Region are not yet available.