China's year-on-year GDP growth reached 6.9 percent in 2017, up from 6.7 percent in 2016, marking the first acceleration since 2011, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday.

The country registered a 6.6 percent industrial output growth last year, compared with 6 percent in 2016.

Fixed-asset growth was 7.2 percent, compared with 8.1 percent in 2016. Real estate investment growth rose by 7 percent, compared with 6.9 percent in 2016.

Retail sales increased by 10.2 percent in 2017 year-on-year, down from 10.4 percent in 2016, the NBS said.

The Chinese economy has been stable and improving and its performance is better than expected, said Ning Jizhe, head of the NBS, in a statement.