6 regions’ per capita GDP above $10,000 (2)

"But the region's per capita disposable income is still lower than other developed provinces," he said.

In 2012, the per capita disposable income of urban residents reached 23,150 yuan ($3,716) in Inner Mongolia, lower than the figure of 34,550 yuan in Zhejiang and 29,677 yuan in Jiangsu, data from local statistics departments showed.

Experts said China's developed regions also lag behind their Western counterparts in terms of the structure of their industries and income distribution.

"In China, residents' disposable income accounts for a small share of GDP, which means people don't enjoy many benefits from the rapid GDP growth," Tang said.

"Instead of per capita GDP, other indicators such as per capita disposable income and the Gini coefficient, a gauge of the gap between the rich and the poor, are more useful in terms of reflecting people's happiness," he said.

Wang Susheng, a deputy to the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress, suggested that the Gini coefficient should be taken into the evaluation system of local authorities' performance, which is usually focused on GDP growth.

"The local government should make efforts to bring down the Gini coefficient year by year," the Yangcheng Evening News, a Guangzhou-based newspaper, quoted him as saying Monday.

As of Tuesday, only Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province had not released its economic data for 2012. Besides the top six areas, local per capita GDP data in the rest of the municipalities, provinces and regions ranged between $3,147 and $9,126 last year, which is equivalent to middle-income economies, according to the World Bank's standards.

Tang said China should avoid the so-called middle income trap, which refers to developing countries stagnating after reaching middle-income status.

"The key to avoiding the trap is further reforms to the income distribution system, which should focus more on fairness and equality rather than efficiency," he said.

In terms of GDP value, export-oriented Guangdong Province ranked at the top with 5.7 trillion yuan recorded in 2012, followed by Jiangsu and Shandong provinces. It was the 24th consecutive year the southern province grabbed the top position.