Tibet’s Poverty Population Reduced in 2012

The impoverished population of southwestern China’s Tibet Autonomous Region has decreased by 130,000 last year, according to statistics released by the local poverty alleviation office recently.

The statistics show that the number of impoverished people in Tibet had decreased to 583,000 by late 2012, from 833,000 in 2010.

The central government allocated 914 million yuan (US$147 million) to Tibet’s poverty alleviation and development in 2012, 200 million more than in 2011, which accounts for 28.03 percent of the total.

Chonyi Yarphei, director of the local Poverty Alleviation and Development Office, said Tibet has made great efforts to alleviate poverty, including housing projects for low-income families, the treatment and prevention of Kashin-Beck disease and job training programs.

Tibet targets to raise the per capita net income of farmers and herders in poverty-stricken areas to the average level of the district. It plans to lift more than 530,000 people out of poverty by 2015. The percentage of the impoverished population in farming and pastoral area is expected to drop to 12 percent.