Population growth rate: 13.1�

Ethnicity:

Qinghai is inhabited by 55 ethnic groups, and the population of minority ethnic groups has reached 2.35 million, or 45.5 percent of the province�s total. Besides the Han, China�s majority, there are the Tibetans, accounting for 21.89 percent of the province�s total population; the Huis, accounting for 15.89 percent; the Tus accounting for 3.85 percent of the province�s total; the Salars accounting for 1.85 percent; and the Mongolians, accounting for 1.71 percent. The Salar and Tu ethnic groups are unique to Qinghai.

Literacy (by the end of 2000):

Primary-school graduates: 1.6 million

Junior middle school graduates: 1.12 million

High school graduates: 540,464

University and college graduates: 170,929

Compared with 1990, the numbers of persons receiving education of various levels among each 10,000 people have increased: college: from 149 to 300; high school: from 828 to 1,043; junior middle school: from 1,776 to 2,660; and primary school: from 2,649 to 3,094.

Total population of age 15 and over who are illiterate or semi-illiterate: 934,283

Illiterate rate: 18.03 percent (1990: 27.7 percent)