More and more people in the Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China have invested in insurance as a result of rapid economic development in the region and the improvement in the lives of local people in the past several years.

By the end of June this year, more than 42,800 people had invested in endowment insurance and 59,947 people had bought medical insurance policies since Tibet launched medical insurance services in2001, according to statistics from the regional social insurance bureau.

The autonomous region provided 195 million yuan(US$23.58 million) in retirement pensions to retirees and paid 17.08 million yuan (US$2.07 million) in medical insurance premiums in the first half of this year, according to Xu Jiping, director of the regional social insurance bureau.

Currently, Tibet has set up 1,237 medical institutions at regional, prefectural, county and township-levels, with 8,948 medical workers.

With the improvement of the social security system, the life expectancy in the region has increased from 36 years old half a century ago to the current 67 years old.

Statistics show that Tibet had more than 200,000 people aged 60 and above in 2001, accounting for eight percent of the region's total population.

(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2003)