China created more than 64 million new jobs for residents in urban areas in the past five years, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday.

China’s Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, Yin Weimin, said – as quoted by the news outlet – the figure exceeded the government’s target of 45 million new jobs for the period covering 2011 to 2015.

The average unemployment rate in urban areas was 4.1 percent in the past five years, within the official target of 5 percent, Mr Yin added.

In the first three quarters of 2015, China created more than 10.66 million jobs in urban areas. During that period those areas had an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent, Xinhua reported.