People pass by a wall painting depicting life in small alley in old residential area of Shanghai, east China, Sept. 19, 2021. (Xinhua/Chen Fei)

China started the renovation of 51,300 old urban residential communities in the first three quarters of this year amid its efforts to improve people's living conditions, official data showed.

The renovation projects benefit 8.51 million households nationwide, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

China plans to commence renovating 53,000 old urban residential communities this year to benefit 8.65 million households.

The ministry said renovation projects put into construction between January and September accounted for 97 percent of the annual target.

As of the end of September, 21 provincial-level regions, including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hunan, Guizhou, and Xinjiang, have started all their community renovation projects as planned.