BEIJING - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday the government is to set its annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth target for the 2011-2015 period at 7 percent, highlighting the need to raise the quality of growth and improve the living standards of the people.

The target was lower than the 7.5 percent for the previous five years.

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"We'll never seek high economic growth rate and big size at the price of environment, as that would result in unsustainable growth featuring industrial overcapacity and intensive resource consumption," Wen said during an online chat with Internet users.

The central government would adopt new performance evaluation criteria for local governments and give more weight to efficiency, environment protection and the people's living standards, said Wen.