Economic, social rights better protected in China's Xizang: white paper

LHASA -- Xizang autonomous region in Southwest China has improved the protection of the economic and social rights of local people, said a white paper issued by China's State Council Information Office on Friday.

The rights of people in Xizang to an adequate standard of living, education, work, health, and social security are better guaranteed, according to the white paper titled "Human Rights in Xizang in the New Era."

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, Xizang has carried out an array of measures to alleviate and eradicate poverty.

The measures include boosting new industries, relocating the poverty-stricken population from uninhabitable areas, recompensing the poor for their loss due to eco-environmental conservation, improving education, and securing social assistance to meet people's basic needs, according to the white paper.

By the end of 2019, all 628,000 registered impoverished people in the region had been lifted out of poverty, the white paper said.

Following this achievement, China continued with the rural revitalization strategy to consolidate and expand the achieved outcomes. In 2024, the per capita net income of those lifted out of poverty in Xizang increased by over 12.5 percent.

Equal access to basic public health services has also been advanced throughout the region. Data showed that the average life expectancy in the region rose from 68.17 years in 2010 to 72.19 years in 2020, the white paper said.

Since 2012, the central and local governments have invested nearly 7.6 billion yuan (about $1.06 billion) into establishing a five-tiered health service network at the region, prefecture, county, township and village levels, it said.

Urban public hospitals, grassroots medical institutions as well as public health service establishments now have better facilities and equipment and can provide increasingly accessible and convenient services.

Medical expert teams from other parts of the country have helped to substantially increase the medical service capacity in Xizang.

The white paper highlighted significant advances made in protecting people's right to education in Xizang.

Specialized teacher training programs continue to be introduced across Xizang to raise the overall quality of teachers, including a special program to train outstanding teachers for underdeveloped central and western regions.

Historic strides have been made in ensuring universal access to education. By 2024, the completion rate of nine-year compulsory education was 97.86 percent, the gross enrollment rate in senior high schools reached 91.56 percent, and the gross enrollment rate of higher education was 57.81 percent.

To safeguard people's right to employment in the region, Xizang has adopted a unified urban-rural public employment service system covering job recommendation, employment guidance, and job seeker registration, the white paper said.

Various policies and measures have been implemented to encourage enterprises to create more jobs for local farmers and herders.

For consecutive years, the employment rate of new college graduates has remained at a relatively high level, it said.

In addition, a multi-layer social security network has taken shape in Xizang. Subsistence allowances in urban and rural areas continue to grow, and now cover a broader range of the population, the white paper said.