People’s livelihood

In recent years, with the development of the economy, per capita income, consumption levels, housing conditions, population quality, medical conditions and social security level of the Tibet Autonomous Region have shown impressive improvement. According to statistics, in 2005, per capita disposable income of urban residents reached 8,411 Yuan, up 2.6 percent over the previous year while per capita net income of farmers and herders totaled 2,078 Yuan, an increase of 11.7 percent. The Engle coefficient of urban and rural households was 53.9 percent and 60.3 percent, respectively. More durable goods such as refrigerators, color TV, computers and cars have entered the lives of ordinary families. The wretched situation under which the economy was in recession and the masses had no means to live in old Tibet has become history.

Improving the production and living conditions of the farmers and herders and increasing their income are the primary tasks of Tibetan social and economic development. From 2001 to 2005, Tibet built houses totaling 650,000 square meters in floor space and constructed sheds for livestock and wells for humans and livestock in 19 counties of Lhasa, Xigaze, Qamdo, Nagqu, Ngari and other prefectural-level cities, thus helping 8,000 households or 40,900 nomadic herders to settle down; more than 820,000 people gained access to electricity and 620,000 people were able to safely drink the water. All these factors greatly improved the production and living conditions of the local farmers and herders and boosted the ability of the livestock to resist calamities, so as to lay a good foundation for the development of stock raising in the local areas.

In addition, in order to solve the problem of production and living for the poverty-stricken masses in Tibet, between 2001 and 2005, the TAR provided aid-the-poor funds of 1.485 billion Yuan for implementing more than 910 poverty production projects so as to build up the self-accumulation and self-development ability of poverty-stricken areas. At present, the number of the key people who need aid has declined from 1.48 million at the end of 2000 to 450,000 in 2005, while the number of key townships included in the plan for poverty alleviation fell from 393 to 20. There were altogether 1.03 million farmers and herders whose per capita annual net income surpassed 1,300 Yuan, thereby getting rid of poverty. In 2005, the income of the farmers and herders in Tibet reached 2,078 Yuan, with the growth exceeding the national average level, up 55.9 percent from 2000.

Starting from January 2006, Tibet, in a government-oriented, privately-owned, public-aid way, fully implemented an economic housing project for farmers and herders, which included rebuilding farmers’ house, settlement of nomadic herders, poverty reduction, moving the masses in endemic disease areas and rebuilding houses in ethnic minority-inhabited areas located on the borders. It is expected to allocate capital of 2.726 billion Yuan for this project. In 2006 alone, the capital of 492 million Yuan will be appropriated to finish newly building and rebuilding houses for 40,000 farmers and herders. Great efforts will be made to newly build and rebuild houses for 219,800 households or 1.252 million farmers and herders. Especially, 605 million Yuan will be spent in settling 40,395 herding households living a nomadic life in a traditional sense, as well as establishing village committee and building cultural and medical spots and support projects such as village-level water supply, electrical lines and highways.

According to the objectives set in the plan for the building a new socialist countryside in Tibet, by 2010 all the townships and over 80 percent of villages will have access to a highway; all townships, over 90 percent of villages and over 80 percent of farmer and herder households will enjoy access to electricity; over 80 percent of farmers and herders will live in comfortable, safe housing; over 80 percent of townships will have access to postal services, over 80 percent of villages will gain access to a telephone and problems such as drinking water safety, disease caused by lack of iodine and cataracts will be basically solved for farmers and herders. At the appointed time, the production and living conditions of the farmers and herders in the whole autonomous region will be greatly improved.

Social security

In recent years, the TAR government has stepped up the pace of introducing social security system reform centered on old age pension and unemployment insurance. It successively promulgated and implemented a series of polices and measures such as Regulation on Guarantee of Subsistence Allowance for Urban Residents, Suggestions on Establishing and Improving the Living-Aid System for Poverty-Stricken Masses in the Farming and Pasturing Areas, Circular on Remitting Tuition Fees and Implementing Aid Policies for the Children of Poverty-Stricken Farmer and Herder Families, and Provisional Measures on Medical Aid for Poverty-Stricken Masses in the Farming and Pasturing Areas, thus constantly improving the social security system and markedly increasing the social security level in urban areas. Stepping up the pace of establishing a social security system in rural and pasturing areas effectively promotes social stability.

According to statistics, at the end of 2005, there were 45,700 employees covered by basic pension insurance in Tibet, with 44,300 people receiving pensions. There were 65,000 people covered by unemployment insurance and 135,900 with basic medical insurance. In 2005, the autonomous region had 1.4168 million employed people, a figure which was 43,600 people more than the end of 2004. They included 296,500 in cities, a decrease of 19,800. The unemployment rate was 4.3 percent at the end of 2005. In addition, altogether 43,900 urban residents received subsistence allowances from the government, which totaled 51.73 million Yuan. At the end of 2005, there were 1,702 people taken in by welfare institutions with 3,277 beds. During the year, the sale of 43.35 million Yuan worth of welfare lotteries raised 15.17 million Yuan in social welfare funds. Direct social donations totaled 32.96 million Yuan.