A total of 1.03 million rural and pastoral residents in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region were lifted out poverty in the past five years with supportive policies of the local government.

Sources from the Regional Poverty Relief Office said the above mentioned number of Tibetan residents had all met the regional poverty eradication benchmark stipulating that the annual per capita net income should reach 1,300 yuan (about US$160.3).

During the 2001-2005 period, some 1.49 billion yuan was spent on various purposes of poverty eradication, with 910 key projects started in Tibet's poverty-ridden areas, said the sources.

Up to date, the region's poor population has shrunk from 1.48 million at the end of 2000 to 450,000 at present, and the number of poverty-stricken townships has also plunged from 393 to the present day 20.
 
(Xinhua News Agency December 29, 2005)