SHANGHAI, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai mayor Ying Yong said on Sunday that the city's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita exceeded 20,000 U.S. dollars in 2018, while the per capita disposable income rose 8.8 percent.

The overall economic growth of the city was at 6.6 percent last year, Ying said while delivering a government work report at the annual session of the municipal legislature. Shanghai's GDP totaled 3.27 trillion yuan (480 billion dollars) last year.

Ying said Shanghai has maintained sustainable and high-quality economic growth. The city set the goal of attaining a growth rate of 6 to 6.5 percent in 2019.

In 2018, Shanghai created 582,000 new jobs, and the urban registered unemployment rate was at 3.6 percent.

Experts said the GDP per capita is an important indicator of a region's economic wellbeing. The fact that it has exceeded 20,000 U.S. dollars means that Shanghai's growth has reached a higher level.

Quan Heng, deputy head of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said as China aims to build itself into a moderately prosperous society by 2020, the growth of GDP per capita is a key measurement.

Quan added that besides per capita GDP, other factors such as economic structure, efficiency and technological innovation are also important indicators of development.

Ying Yong said the city will deepen reform and opening-up and promote high-quality economic growth in the following year.