BEIJING -- China's ethnic regions had a combined GDP of 5.85 trillion yuan ($941.3 billion) in 2012, up 12.1 percent year-on-year, according to the State Ethnic Affairs Commission.

The growth was 1.8 percentage points higher than the national average, according to a statement released Thursday by the commission.

According to the statement, ethnic regions accounted for 10.1 percent of the country's GDP, with southwest China's Yunnan province boasting a GDP of more than 1 trillion yuan for the first time.

The figures came amid intensified efforts to transform China's economic growth mode, strengthen infrastructure construction, develop industries with unique local features and improve people's livelihoods in ethnic regions.

However, the commission noted that imbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development still plagues many underdeveloped regions.

The commission vowed to improve basic public services in ethnic regions and encourage remote areas to adopt more open development plans.