BEIJING — China's cultural industry posted steady and fast revenue growth in 2019, official data showed on Feb 14.

The combined revenue of around 58,000 surveyed companies in the sector stood at 8.66 trillion yuan ($1.24 trillion) in 2019, up 7 percent year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

All nine cultural sectors saw their business revenues rise in the period, with three of them registering double-digit growth, the NBS said.

News and information services boasted the fastest growth last year with the total revenue standing at 680 billion yuan, rising 23 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the revenue of cultural investment and operation rose 13.8 percent, while that of creative design services increased 11.3 percent, the NBS data showed.

Amid efforts to shift its growth model to one that draws strength from domestic demand and services, China has planned to develop the cultural industry into a pillar industry of the national economy by 2020.