BEIJING, Dec 31 (Reuters) - China experienced its warmest year in 2006 since 1951, packed with an unusually high number of natural disasters, Xinhua news agency said on Sunday, putting the blame on global warming.

Dong Wenjie, director of the Beijing Climate Centre, said there was less rain, higher temperatures and a series of storms and typhoons followed by drought.

The annual meteorological report released by the China Meteorological Administration said the amount of damage was "rare" in the country's history.

"Typhoons, floods and droughts claimed 2,704 lives and inflicted economic losses of 212 billion yuan ($27 billion) in 2006, second only to 1998 when an extremely severe flood swept the country," Xinhua quoted the report as saying.

Every year 50 million hectares (125 million acres) of farmland and 400 million people are affected by natural disasters in China with economic losses reaching 1 to 3 percent of gross domestic product.

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