The income gap between urban and rural Chinese residents narrowed further in 2011, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The ratio stood at 3.13:1 in 2011, meaning city dwellers' average income was 3.13 times that of rural people. It represents a decline from 3.23:1 in 2010 and 3.33:1 in 2009.

Rural residents' per-capita annual income rose 17.9 percent year on year in 2011 to 6,977 yuan ($1,101), while the per-capita disposable income of urbanites was 21,810 yuan ($3,443), up 14.1 percent from a year earlier, the NBS said, citing figures from a survey of 74,000 rural households and 66,000 urban households nationwide.

The NBS attributed the large increase in rural residents' wages to the rising incomes of migrant workers last year.