1. Name: Tibet Autonomous Region
     2. Areas: 12.284 million square kilometers
     3. Population: 2.479 million (de jure at the end of 1997)

4. Capital: Lhasa City
5. Geography: Tibet Autonomous Region as the main parts of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau located in the southwest border area of China between the east longitude 78'25 - 90'06 and the north latitude 26'50 - 36'53. It has a common boundary with some of provinces or autonomous regions such as Yunnan, Sichuan, Qinghai and Xinjiang. It is bounded on the west by the Kashmir Zone, and bordered on some countries in South and Southeast Asia such as Burma, India, Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal.
6. Nature Resources: Tibet has diversified physiognomy with mountains, desert, grassland and forestry, as one of the largest grassland and forestry in China. But the soil resources is uneven distributed. Tibet has a large quantity of plants and animals resources. Plenty of rivers and lakes bring it 2 billion-kilowatt water resources, which account of 30 percent of the whole country. There are considerable terrestrial heats, solar energy and wind energy, in which the reserves of terrestrial heat is the largest in the country. Up to 90 kinds of mineral resources have been discovered, with 30 kinds of mineral resources have proved their reserves. But it has difficulty to exploit the potential deposits. Additionally Tibet is rich in the tourism resources.
7. Economy: Tibetan economy is developing in recent years, with GDP 7698 million Yuan, the gross output value of agriculture and industry 5321 million Yuan, and the per capita GDP 3194 Yuan in 1997. The total value of imports and exports in Tibet in 1997 reached up to 118.33 million US dollars. The government revenue was more than 3693 million Yuan, and the output of grain was about 0.7919 million tons. At present, the farming and animal husbandry are the major industries in Tibet. The gross output of agriculture accounted for 77.9 percent of the gross output value of agriculture and industry in 1997. But the productivity is very low, and the handwork in farming and animal husbandry are still some of primary pattern. Although in some areas near cities few of machines used in agricultural, the manpower and animal power are still applied in plowing land. So the output of agricultural production is neither high nor stable. In Tibet the industry sectors are quite small in size and few in kinds, with extensive management at low efficiency.
8. People's Life: Based on the statistics at the end of 1997, about 1.2047 million people worked as employees, accounting for 48.6 percent of total population in Tibet. Total wage bill of staff and workers was 1703.66 million Yuan. and the per capita yearly wage was 10098 Yuan. The annual net per capita income of farmers and herdsmen was 1085 Yuan. The annual per capita income for urban and town residents was up to 5913 Yuan. Per capita consumption of all residents on average was 1471 Yuan, and for rural residents 939 Yuan, non-rural residents 4744 Yuan in 1997. In terms of health facility, for every 10000 persons were served with 25.7 hospital beds and 21.4 medical practitioner.
9. Education: At the end of 1997, Tibet had 4 universities with 3200 enrolled students and 849 teachers, about 106 middle schools with 44143 students and 4132 teachers, and 806 primary schools with 300453 pupils and 13938 teachers. Tibet's people have relatively lower educational level than that of other provinces or regions with a large quantity of illiterates and semi-illiterates. The weakness in educational infrastructure and the lack of advanced and intermediate professionals and staff are the major problems in Tibet.

1. Population Situation

1. Size and Distribution

By the end of 1997, total population in Tibet accounted 2.479 million. With diversity distribution, the most people live in rural areas, and less in cities and towns. Population of the Tibetan nationality takes over 90 percent, but that of the Han nationality and other ethnic groups is very little. Affected by nature, geography conditions and climates, 80 percent of population in Tibet is distributed mainly over the valley along the middle reaches of Brahmaputra River valley and the deep valleys along the three rivers (Lantsang River, Lujang River and Yangtse River) which are located in the east of Tibet. There are few people in the north of Qinghai-Xizang Plateau because of harsh climates. In the southeast of Tibet covered by primeval forests, population density is not high with the poor transportation and others unfavorable conditions. In 1997 population density of Tibet was only 1.98 per square KM.

Tibet was liberated peacefully in May of 1951. From 1952 to now, Tibet population history can be classified into four periods as following:

The first period, 1952-1958, was characterized as the high mortality and low fertility. Total number of population in Tibet was slightly increased in this period.

The second period, 1959-1969, was defined as the relatively high growth period. The population had been risen up to 1.4805 million in 1969, with 0.2743 million more than that in 1959.

The third period, 1970-1985, was the rapid increase in population growth period. The crude birth rate (CBR) fluctuated at 25 per thousand, and the natural increase rate (NIR) was keeping at 18 per thousand. So population was increased up to 1.9948 million in 1985.

The present period, 1986-now, was slow down in the population growth. CBRs and NIRs were both declined a little, but they still are as high as 24 per thousand and 16 per thousand respectively.

The sex ratio of total population in Tibet was lower than the other provinces and regions. From 1951, the sex ratio of 94 or 95 women over 100 men was keeping for a long time. But after 1980 the sex ratio tended to increase slightly. The age composition in Tibet can be described as the Expansive Pattern with large number of people in the young ages. In 1997 among 2.479 million people, age 0-14 accounted 0.825 million, about 33.3 percent. The number of people age 15-64 was 1.519 million, about 61.3 percent. The elderly 65 years old and above was 0.135 million, accounting for 5.4 percent of total population. Total dependency ratio was 63.17 percent, with the youth dependency ratio 54.29 percent and the elderly dependency ratio 8.88 percent.

4. Fertility Level and Changes

From 1951, the fertility level in Tibet has significantly changed, but contained the high fertility rates. Since the middle of 1980’s, fertility level has tended to fall down. In 1977, the CBR was 23.9 per thousand, the NIR was 16.0 per thousand. Based on the results of mid-term and long-term population projection by regions and by parity fertility levels, the total population of Tibet would be increasing continuously in a relatively long time of several decades, and yearly increment would tend to be risen in recent years.

After the Peaceful Liberation, especially after the Democratic Reform in Tibet, the mortality declined by a large margin. The decrease of mortality rate has been slowdown since 1970. The mortality rate had fallen from 28 per thousand in 1950s to 7.9 per thousand in 1997. The model of age-specific death rates is in the stage of transferring from the traditional “U-shape” model to the modern “J-shape” model. The death rates of males were higher than that of females. There was a wide gap between urban and rural people in the death rates. The mortality at all ages in Tibet was much higher than the average level of whole country in China. The death rates in each age groups in rural is higher than that in urban. The infant mortality rate was very high in Tibet with great difference between sexes. But the infant mortality rate had fallen from 430 per thousand of the beginning of the Peaceful Liberation to 97 per thousand by the year of 1990. And the current life expectancy in Tibet reached 60 years.

6. Marriage Status, Family Size and Type

The 1990 census showed that unmarried people aged 15 and above were 465000, accounts for 32.78 percent. Percentage of unmarried men was higher than that of unmarried women, with 251200 men and 213800 women unmarried. The unmarried rate in Tibet was higher than that in the other provinces. And the unmarried rate in urban areas was greater than that in rural areas. The unmarried rate of Tibetans was little bit lower than that of Han people in Tibet, but the proportion of single persons in their whole life time was higher in Tibetan than that in other nationalities. Percentage of spouse in men was higher than that in women, and the proportion of married persons with their spouses in urban areas was higher than that in rural areas. The early marriage among the lower educated people was higher. Percentage of widows was higher than that of widowers. The differences of widow rates between urban and rural were obvious. Percentage of widowed illiterates and semi-illiterates was relatively high, with education level increased the percentage of widow reduced. The percentage of divorce was higher in the older ages, and the increase of divorce rate with ages in women was faster than that in men. The percentage of divorced illiterates and semi-illiterates was the highest, and that of divorced laborers was higher than that of brain workers.

In 1997, among 776000 males and 878000 females age 15 and over in Tibet, there were 243000 males and 225000 females unmarried, 483000 males and 539000 females first married with spouse, 9000 males and 4000 females remarried, 7000 males and 18000 females divorced, 34000 widowers and 91000 widows.

In terms of family size, there was a great difference among regions based on the data of 1990 census. The size of households in cities was smaller than that in counties, and the household size in pasturing areas was smaller than that in farming areas. The composition of households was relatively even distributed, with a little bit higher percentage in the expand family. Looking at family type, the two-generation families were the majority, three generations and over take a great scale. The composition of family type was variety from one ethnic group to the other, and the differences in composition of family type also were existed between urban and rural.

6. Aging of Population

The age structure of Tibet population is generally young. In 1990, the people elderly over 60 years old accounted for 7.4 percent, and over 65 years old accounted for 4.63 percent. The growth rate of old people was faster than the increase rate of total population, with the characteristic of high percentage of aged population in farming areas. In term of age structure of aged population, the younger age of the elderly were majority, but the number of persons over 80 years old had been risen up to 10500, accounting for 14.04 percent of total aged population by 1990. Education level of aged population in Tibet was little lower than that in other regions. The illiterates and semi-illiterates took 89.44 percent of aged population. The percentage of widowed in the elderly was as high as 53.15 percent. The percentage of employed persons in the elderly was 25.66 percent in the year of 1990.

Educational composition of Tibet population has changed dramatically and the education level has improved since 1949. According to 1982’s census and 1990’s census, the education structure in Tibet population had been changing with the increase of higher education people and the decrease of illiterates and semi-illiterates. But compared with other regions, education level in Tibet was still very low and improved slowly. The education levels had a striking difference between sexes, as well as between urban and rural in Tibet. Most high education people lived in the cities. The percentage of illiterates and semi-illiterates in farming and pasturing areas took much higher than that in the whole regions. On the average educational level for females was lower than males, so the illiterates and semi-illiterates for females were higher than that for males obviously. The differences of educational level were also existing among the ethnic groups, the Han people had higher education level than Tibetans.

Before 1970s, the migrants between Tibet and other provinces were almost dictated by governments as work-site movement, job assignment and family accompanies. But after 1980s, the migrants actively moved for studying or training, for marriage or joining family, for visiting friends or relatives and retired took more and more parts of total migration in Tibet. The migration in Tibet was characterized with great fluctuation, regional difference between rural and urban, and majority of Han people. The migration within Tibet is usually related to the regional distribution of total population and the development of transportation. There are more density in population and more developed in transportation, there were more frequent movement and larger amount in migration. On the contrary, there is less migration with fewer populations in less developed areas.

There are abundant resources in Tibet with specially rich solar energy, water, lives and mines. But investment and infrastructure are limited, it is very hard to explore and use these resources in a short term. The environment of Tibet is specialized with nature disasters, bad living conditions and little pollution in the resident habitats.

Top of page