prevention centers and health organizations, 55 maternal and child health care institutions. There were 7,469 beds in health institutions, including 7,091 beds in hospitals. There were 9,095 health care workers, including 4,270 practicing doctors. The number of beds in health institutions and health care workers per 1000 persons reached 2.64 and 3.2 respectively. In 2007, Tibetan athletes won seven gold medals, four silver medals and five bronze medals in domestic and international sport events. In 2007, sales of sports lottery amounted to 24.1 million yuan, raising public welfare fund of 8.01 million yuan.

XI. Population, Living Conditions and Social Security

According to the population survey, at the end of 2007, the total number of population in the region reached 2.84 million, a net increase of 31,500 over that at the end of 2006. Of this total, urban and rural population numbered 565,500 and 2.28 million, accounting for 19.9 percent and 80.1 percent of the total population, respectively. The region recorded a crude birth rate of 16.4 per thousand, a crude death rate of 5.1 per thousand and a natural growth rate of 11.3 per thousand.

In 2007, the annual per-capita disposable income of urban residents was 11,131 yuan, reporting a year-on-year growth rate of 24.5 percent. The annual per-capita net income of farmers stood at 2,788 yuan, an increase of 14.5 percent. The Engel coefficient was 50.9 percent for urban households and 57.1 percent for rural households. At the end of 2007, the per-capita housing area of urban residents in the region was 32.7 square meters, and that of farmers was 21.7 square meters. In 2007, with the investment of 620 million yuan from the Tibet autonomous regional government, 174 million yuan from local governments and 45 million yuan of aid from other provinces and municipalities, the housing project for 58,300 farmer households were completed. At the end of 2007, 303,400 farmers had moved into new homes.

At the end of 2007, a total of 80,900 people participated in basic pension program; and the number of people receiving pensions stood at 30,500. At the end of 2007, a total of 75,000 people participated in unemployment insurance programs; and nine people received unemployment insurance payment. A total of 173,000 people participated in health insurance programs; and the medical care system for farmers was established on the basis of free medical treatment. In 2007, over 62.45 million yuan of relief funding was granted to over 36,000 people as the government living allowance. Social welfare institutions of various types provided 3,677 beds by the end of 2007, accommodating 3,370 inmates. A total of 110 million yuan worth of welfare lottery tickets were sold in the region, raising 36.36 million yuan of social welfare funds. A total of 3.62 million yuan were received from direct donations.

XII. Resources, Environment and Work Safety

In 2007, five new mines were discovered in the region, and there were three minerals registered increases of reserves. A total of 170 prospecting projects were launched, which have completed an object work quantization of 96,100 meters.

A total of 19,070 hectares of forest were planted, including 2,810 hectares of timber production forest, 1,590 hectares of economic forest and 13,130 hectares of shelter-forest.

A total of 4 million yuan was invested to tighten pollution control of the enterprises. The rate of good air quality in Lhasa reached 98.4 percent in 2007. There were eight environment supervision stations of various types, 61 water-quality monitoring stations and six soil and water conservation monitoring stations in the region. There are a total of 15 natural reserves above regional-level, including nine national-level natural reserves. The area of the natural reserves totaled 408,300 hectares, accounting for 34 percent of the region's total area.

In 2007, 889 accidents of various types took place in the region, a drop of 12.9 percent over the previous year. The death toll due to the accidents decreased by 14.8 percent to 489 people. The accidents caused 10.38 million yuan of direct economic loss. The death toll from work accidents every 100 million yuan worth of GDP was 1.43 people, down by 27.8 percent. In 2007, the road traffic death toll per 10,000 vehicles was 27.53 persons, a decrease of 10.27 persons.

Notes:

1. All figures in the communiqué are preliminary statistics. For official statistics please see Tibet Statistical Yearbook 2008.

2. Statistics on foreign trade, transportation, post and telecommunication, tourism, public finance, banking, insurance, education, science and technology, metrology, environmental protection, culture, public health, sports, social welfare and social security, resources and work safety were offered by relevant government departments of Tibet Autonomous Region.

3. GDP, the value-added of all industries and output value of agriculture and industry were calculated at current prices, and the growth rates were calculated at comparable prices.