An Analysis Of The Tibetan Border Population

The Tibetan border is bounded by countries or regions such as Nepal,Bhutan,India,Myanmar and Kashmir,with a land border of 3842 km,accounting for one sixth of China's land border.It possesses three first-class border ports(Zhangmu,Gyirong,and Purang)and two second-class border ports(Yadong and Riwu).Eighteen border counties are located in Ali,Shigatse,Shannan and Linzhi,accounting for about one fourth of the total area of Tibet.The sixth census data reveal that there are more than 330,000 people on the Tibetan border,accounting for one thenth of Tibet's total population.Based on the data o the fifth and sixth census as well as the data of China County Statistical Yearbook from 2014 to 2018,this thesis deeply analyzes the current situation and change characteristics of the Tibetan border population in scale,distribution,gender,age,education level,urbanization,industrial employment,and mobility.And further analyzed the development and changes of the population and economy of Tibet border by whether the port is set up or not.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)The population base on the border of Tibet is very small,showing an increasing trend.There are large differences in population scale among counties.The largest population is more than 50,000 people in Dingri County and the smallest one is in Zada County(About 7,000 people);the gender ratio of the border population is generally balanced.The population is transiting from the adult type to the elderly type,and the aging index and the children's population coefficient are accelerating;the total dependency ratio at the border is very high and the children's dependency ratio is nearly four times that of the elderly.(2)The education level of the border population is worrying.The average number of years on education are very low(5.3 years),and the illiteracy rate is very high(31.6%).Furthermore,the illiteracy rate of female population is much higher than that of males,and more than 90%of them have not reached the level of junior high school education.However,the education level has developed rapidly since 2000.(3)The border population is mainly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry.The primary industry is the best developed,followed by the tertiary industry.There is no prominent secondary industry to undertake employment,and the urbanization process is very slow.(4)The border's cross-province immigration population is the largest,which is mainly the male working-age population.Because there are more women than men in the outflow population,the sex ratio of the border population continues to rise.(5)The spatial distribution of the population on the border of Tibet is characterized by sparsely populated areas,uneven distribution,and single ethnicity;the opening of the ports has been very slow,which has not highlighted the role of promoting the border's economic,social and population development.