KUNMING, July 21 (Xinhua) -- A press briefing held here Thursday highlighted the progress made in southwest China's Yunnan Province over the past decade in achieving high-quality development.

The province's gross domestic product jumped from 1.1 trillion yuan (about 162.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2012 to 2.71 trillion yuan in 2021, growing at an average annual rate of 8.7 percent, which is 2 percentage points higher than the national level, according to the press briefing.

Over the past decade, 9.33 million people in rural areas in Yunnan were lifted out of poverty, and 1.5 million people were relocated from poverty-stricken regions to live a better life.

Yunnan has also made significant progress in improving the ecological environment and biodiversity, with its forest coverage rate reaching 65 percent, according to the press briefing.