Western China roughly covers Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai and Shaanxi provinces; Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang, Ningxia and Guangxi autonomous regions; and Chongqing municipality.

Last year, the per-capita income in Tibet's urban areas averaged 8,058 yuan (973.5 US dollars), a year-on-year growth of 3. 8 percent, according to the latest data provided by the regional bureau of statistics.

Tibet ranked second only to Chongqing, which scored an urban per-capita income of 8,093.67 yuan (977.8 US dollars).

With the rise in urban income, Tibet witnessed a total retail sales of 2.608 billion yuan (315 million US dollars) last year, up 8.5 percent year-on-year. The income of the catering sector reported a growth of 5.1 percent in retail sales which amounted to 817 million yuan (98.7 million US dollars).

Major consumer goods that sold well included home appliances, jewelry, cosmetics, cars and cell phones.

In downtown Lhasa, the regional capital, alone, there are 35, 000 private cars, or one for 12 residents on average. In Tibet, the number of cell phone users exceeds 330,000, nearly 60,000@than that of fixed-line phone subscribers.

The bureau added that last year, the per-capita income of farmers and herdsmen in Tibet stood at 1,690 yuan (204 US dollars) in Tibet, ranking ninth in western China.