Pastoralism and Rangeland Management on the Tibetan Plateau in ...

3.2 Population <strong>and</strong> life expectancy changes
Since the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, its population increased
from 1.23 million in 1959 to 2.87 million in 2008, with the local Tibetan
population having changed from one million to 2.7 million. Tibet’s population
changes can generally be divided into five stages. During the first stage, from
1951–1958, it had a high mortality rate <strong>and</strong> a slower rate of population growth.
The second stage, from 1959 to 1969, saw the population rapidly increase in
the TAR. The total population reached 1.4 million in 1969, with an increase
of 274,300 people compared to 1959. In the third stage, from 1970 to1984, the
total population in the TAR increased significantly, achieving 25‰ annual
birth rate <strong>and</strong> 18‰ annual natural population increment rate. From 1985 to
1997, the total population in the TAR increased to 2.47 million in 1985 from
1.99 million in 1997, with an increase of 20 %. In the past 10 years, the annual
natural population rate remained at 10‰, <strong>and</strong> by 2008, the total population
in the TAR amounted to 2.87 million, a 1.87 times increase from 1950. At the
same time, the proportion of the rural population remained at about 80 % of
the total population in the TAR (Figure 2).
Currently the average lifespan of a Tibetan in the TAR is 67 years, while it
was only about 35.5 years before the democratic reforms of 1959. The huge
investment from the central <strong>and</strong> local governments for a rural <strong>and</strong> urban public
health service system in the TAR enabled local farmers <strong>and</strong> herders to receive
free public health service, which greatly enhanced the longevity of the local
people.
Source: data adapted from Tibet Statistical Yearbook 2009, 2010 <strong>and</strong> China
Statistical Yearbook, 2009
Figure 2: Dynamic of agricultural population <strong>and</strong> livestock inventories at yearend
from 1951 to 2009
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