In 2010 the per-capita net income of farmers and herdsmen in Tibet was 4,138.7 yuan (639.7 U.S. dollars), registering a double-digit growth for eight consecutive years, says a white paper titled "Sixty Years Since Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" issued on Monday.

According the white paper issued by the Information Office of the State Council, or China's cabinet, the per-capita disposable income of urban dwellers in Tibet stood at 14,980 yuan last year.

Before the peaceful liberation, more than 90 percent of the people in Tibet had no private housing, nor had they enough food and clothing. But over the past 60 years the Tibetan people's living conditions have constantly improved, the white paper says.

In 1951 the per-capita housing of urban dwellers was less than three sq m, but the figure reached 34.72 at the end of 2010, it says.

Since 2006, with the construction of a new socialist countryside and comfortable housing project underway, 274,800 households, comprising 1.4 million farmers and herdsmen, have moved into modern houses, and the per-capita housing space has increased to 24 sq m in rural areas, it says

Tibet has also improved its facilities in the areas of water, electricity, highways, telecommunications, gas, radio and television, postal services and the environment in farming and pastoral areas, giving rise to historic changes in these areas. The coverage rate of postal services in townships, that of highways in townships, and that of highways in administrative villages have reached 85.7 percent, 99.7 percent and 81.2 percent, respectively, it says.

The region has provided safe drinking water for 1.5 million farmers and herdsmen, and iodized salt for 91.2 percent of the residents in farming and pastoral areas.

The white paper says that the consumption pattern of Tibetan residents is becoming more diversified with improvement in their livelihood.

According to the white paper, a survey shows that for every 100 rural households in Tibet there are 73.45 color TVs, 52.64 mobile phones and 3.98 private cars, and for every 100 urban households in Lhasa, there are 63 PCs, 182 mobile phones and 32 private cars.

In Tibet, radio, television, the Internet and other modern means of information keep growing with progress in other parts of China and the rest of the world. They have become an integral part of people's daily life in Tibet as well, it says.