BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- The growing affluence of Chinese citizens has largely contributed to the country's population control practice, an official said here Thursday.

"China's population control has reduced the pressure on resources, environment and economic and social development," Li Deshui, director of National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said at anational television and telephone conference marking the birth of the 1.3 billionth Chinese citizen in Beijing early Thursday.

An official with the National Commission for Population and Family Planning said China's per capita GDP had grown six times since 1978 thanks to the implementation of the population control policy.

"China's GDP has grown 8.4 times since 1978, yet China's population has grown only 35 percent," said the official.

According to the commission, China avoided the birth of more than 300 million babies in the past three decades since it inaugurated the family planning practice. As a result, China saved7 trillion yuan (843.37 billion US dollars) of spending on bringing up these babies.

"China's population accounts for 22 percent of the world's total, yet China only possesses less than 10 percent of the world's farm land," Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said at a national conference on land management last year. "China's per capita possession of land is less than half of the world average."