BEIJING - Hu Jintao set a new target for economic growth Thursday, saying that China should double its 2010 GDP and per capita income for both urban and rural residents by 2020.

"On the basis of making China's development much more balanced, coordinated and sustainable, we should double its 2010 GDP and per capita income for both urban and rural residents (by 2020)," Hu said in a keynote report at the opening of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

This is the first time that resident's per capita income has been included in the economic growth target set for 2020 by the CPC. Previous targets set at the 16th and 17th CPC National Congresses merely called for the growth of GDP, not of per capita income.