Poverty rate in Tibet drops to 5.6 percent: says expert at UN side-meeting

GENEVA - The poverty rate in China's Tibet autonomous region has dropped from 25.2 percent in 2015 to 5.6 percent as of June 2019, and the number of people living in poverty there has decreased from 590,000 to 150,000 in the same period, said a Chinese expert here on Tuesday.

Speaking at a side-event on China's human rights progress in the past 70 years amid the 41st UN Human Rights Council session, Luo Bu, a researcher from the China Society for Human Rights Studies, told the audience that absolute poverty in Tibet is set to be eliminated within this year.

According to the expert, more than 18,000 officials and professionals from various provinces in other parts of China have been mobilized to work in Tibet to assist its development, helping implement more than 10,000 aid projects there.

With the total investment funds exceeding 40 billion yuan (some 5.8 billion US dollars), these projects have greatly supported the poverty alleviation drive and development in Tibet, the expert said.

Citing relevant statistics and surveys, the expert said that more than 97 percent people of all ethnic groups in Tibet are satisfied with their living conditions and 97.3 percent have confidence in economic and social development.

"This is not only an objective fact, but also a great achievement in the development of the human rights cause in Tibet," the expert said.