What is the total population of Tibet?
TIBETAN POPULATION (IN MILIONS)
| Year | All Ethnic Tibetans | Central Tibet (TAR) | Source |
|
|---|
| 1268 | 1.0 | -- | [Goldstein81] |
| 1737 | | 0.316 (monks) |
|
| | | 0.127 (lay families) | [Rockhill91] |
| 1900 | 1.0 | -- | [McEvedy78] |
| 1953 | 2.776 | 1.274 | [Banister87] |
| 1964 | 2.501 | 1.251 | [Banister87] |
| 1982 | 3.870 | 1.892 | [Banister87] |
| 1990 | 4.593 | 2.196 | [BR-D90], [BR-N90] |
| 1995 | -- | 2.389 | [Reuter96] |
The figure for 1268 is an estimate made by American scholar Melvyn Goldstein
on the basis of a Mongol census taken during that year. The figures for 1737,
1953, 1964, 1982, and 1990 are Chinese census results. The 1995 figure is an
estimate produced by China's State Statistical Bureau. The SSB's report on
the 1990 census estimates that Tibet had a population of about 1.05 million
in 1951. This suggests that the 1953 census result is now regarded as an
overcount.
How many ethnic Chinese live in Tibet (population transfer)?
The view of the Tibetan government-in-exile is provided by its Department
of Information and International Relations:
Despite the lack of exact figures, and despite Chinese denials, the
evidence points to a deliberate and long-standing population transfer
policy. The policy is carried out largely with the help of Government
incentive programs for Chinese from various Chinese provinces to
relocate in Tibet. Higher wages, special housing, business and pension
benefits are but some of the incentives provided. China's fourth
population census in 1990 put the Chinese population (including a
small number of Mongols) in the Tibetan provinces of Kham and Amdo at
4,927,369. However, it is said that there is at least one unregistered
Chinese against every two registered ones. The actual Chinese
population, both registered and unregistered, in these areas should be
about 7.5 million. In the recent years, China is reported to have
stepped up the transfer of its population to the "TAR" also. [Info93]
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) states that, "The
Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian
population into the territory it occupies."
In the previous quote, the word "Tibet" is used to refer to the entire
Tibet-Qinghai Plateau. In contrast, the quote below, from a 1994 _Washington
Post_ news article, uses the word to refer to TAR only, a much smaller area.
Accurate figures for the ethnic breakdown of Tibet's population are
difficult to obtain and are disputed by Chinese officials and the
Tibetan exile community. Many Western analysts say the exile
community's figures are highly exaggerated.
Of Tibet's population of about 2.2 million, there are an estimated
66,000 ethnic Chinese with permanent residence status, according to
Chinese officials. Not included are another 40,000 Chinese
entrepreneurs who are part of an unofficial "floating population" and
between 40,000 and 65,000 soldiers and paramilitary police, putting
the total Chinese population in Tibet at no more than 8 percent...
In Lhasa, about 50 percent of the population of 150,000 is now
Chinese, longtime residents and Western analysts say. [Sun94]
A 1995 report by the Tibet Support Group UK estimated TAR's "total non-
Tibetan population to be between 250,000 and 300,000, not including small
groups of peoples indigenous to the region." The report also concluded that,
For all the Chinese defined Tibetan autonomous areas (including the
TAR) we estimate the total non-Tibetan population to be between 2.5
to 3 million; figures based on Chinese statistics from 1990 claimed
the non-Tibetan total population to be 1.5 million; figures based on
Chinese statistics from 1990 claimed the total Tibetan population for
all the Tibetan autonomous areas to be 4.34 million. [Tibet95]
What are Tibet's economic statistics?
| Description | Tibet (TAR) | China (PRC) | USA |
|---|
| Per capita GDP in U.S. dollars (1993) | | 462 | 24,700 |
| Average annual growth in real income (1985-91) | | 8.1 | 0.8 |
| Telephone main lines per 100 population (1992) | | 1 | 56 |
| Percentage of adults who are literate (1990) | | 74 | 97 |
| Percentage of adults who are high school grads (1990) | | 8.04 | 77.6 |
| Percentage of adults who are college grads (1990) | | 1.42 | 21.3 |
Sources: [Bennett95], [Fiske94], [Overholt93], [US Census94], [World94], [Poston92]