BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of consumption growth, rose 8 percent year on year in 2019, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

Sales of the consumer goods totaled some 41.16 trillion yuan (about 5.99 trillion U.S. dollars) last year. In December, the indicator rose 8 percent year on year.

Retail sales in rural areas rose 9 percent, outpacing the 7.9-percent expansion in urban areas.

Online sales continued to report robust expansion, with a year-on-year increase of 16.5 percent to top 10 trillion yuan in 2019, NBS data showed.