Successful regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet

- People's happiness quotient has been greatly improved

People in both urban and rural areas are living a richer and fuller life as their incomes increase rapidly. In 2014 the per capita disposable income of urban residents reached 22,016 yuan, a 38-fold increase, or an average annual increase of 10.7 percent compared with 565 yuan in 1978; and that of farmers and herdsmen was 7,359 yuan, representing an average annual increase of 10.9 percent. The level of urbanization has also steadily risen. The proportion of urban population during the third population census in 1982 was 9.48 percent, but this percentage increased to 11.52 in 1990, to 19.43 in 2000 and to 22.67 in 2010. Along with improvements to the people's livelihood, diversified consumption patterns have appeared, and such consumer goods as refrigerators, color TV sets, computers, washing machines, motorcycles, and mobile phones have entered ordinary households. Many farmers and herdsmen have become well-off and built new houses; some have even bought automobiles. Radio, television, telecommunications, the Internet and other modern information transmission means, which are at the same level as that of the country and the rest of the world, are now part of Tibetans' daily life. According to the "CCTV Economic Life Survey" jointly hosted by the National Bureau of Statistics, China Post Group, and China Central Television (CCTV), Lhasa has topped the "happiness index" in China for five consecutive years.

Both urban and rural residents' living conditions have greatly improved. Tibet took the lead in 2006 in initiating low-income housing projects for local farmers and herdsmen. By the end of 2013, the Region had appropriated 27.8 billion yuan and finished building 460,300 low-income houses. As many as 2.3 million farmers and herdsmen had moved into safe modern houses, their per capita living space having reached 30.4 sq m, so marking an historic improvement in their living conditions. Constantly increasing input into the building of relocation housing, Tibet has built 66,076 more such houses covering 4.0442 million sq m, with an input of 8.809 billion yuan. The Region has proactively carried out the city heating project in Lhasa. Since initiation of the project in 2012, Tibet has built 63 km of a main gas pipe network, 256 km of a secondary pipe network and more than 1,200 km of a courtyard pipe network. It has completed 768 heating projects for residential areas and workplaces, so benefiting 107,000 households in a 21.36 million sq m area. The heating system has become available to almost all urban areas in Lhasa. The burning of dung for heating is now history.