Tibetan glory: 55 years and growing
The local population has increased from about 1.37 million in 1965 to 3.51 million in 2019, with ethnic Tibetans still forming an overwhelming majority. Meanwhile, the average lifespan of Tibetan people has increased from 35.5 years in the 1950s, to 68 years in 2014 and 70.6 years now, all thanks to economic development.
In the past, difficult natural conditions ensured that Tibet remained poor. In 2010 it was dotted with a wide range of poverty-stricken areas and had the widest range of poverty-stricken areas in China. Around 32.33 percent of Tibet's inhabitants were poor before the central government launched the targeted poverty-alleviation campaign in 2012. However, thanks to preferential policies and central funds, 74 counties in Tibet were lifted out of poverty, and extreme poverty eradicated there in 2019.
