Factbox: Tibet facts and figures

LHASA - Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region is 50 years old this week.

Five decades after its founding, here are some key facts and figures about the region.

LAND:

1.2 million sq km (about one eighth of China's territory)

Four cities (Lhasa, Chamdo, Nyingchi, Shigatse ) and three prefectures (Nagqu, Ngari, Shannan)

5,465 villages

4,000 km borderline (one sixth of China's entire borderline)

4,000 meters above sea level on average

60 percent as much oxygen in the air as in inland regions

RESOURCES

439 billion cubic meters of water (excluding underground water; more than any other Chinese province or region)

84 million hectares of natural grassland (more than any other Chinese province or region)

441,700 hectares of arable land

14.72 million hectares of forest (forest coverage rate 11.98 percent)

33.9 percent of the region is nature reserves

125 types of wildlife under official protection

150,000 Tibetan antelopes

40,000 wild yaks

DEMOGRAPHICS

3.176 million people

95.74 percent are Tibetans and other minor ethnic groups

25.7 percent of people live in urban areas (74.3 percent rurally)

68.2-year life expectancy (eight years lower than inland, due to altitude)

327,000 people are classed as poverty-stricken

608,500 students

0.57-percent illiteracy rate

Communist Party of China (CPC)

306,533 CPC members in Tibet in 2014 (10.22 percent of population)

6,000 CPC organizations