BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) -- China last year allocated 85.6 billion yuan (about 13.3 billion U.S. dollars) to cultural development, such as cultural services, communication and activities, according to a statistical report from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

According to the report made public on Thursday, the national spending grew 11 percent more than 2016, while per capita expenditure on culture-related services was about 61.6 yuan, up 10.5 percent.

China had 15,752 art performance groups that gave 2.93 million shows for more than 1.2 billion viewers in 2017, said the report.

By the end of 2017, there were 3,166 public libraries nationwide, with 970 million books and more than 1 billion e-books, according to the report.

The ministry plans to release more statistical reports on the country's cultural development in the future.