Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region is 50 years old this week.

Five decades after its founding, here are some key facts and figures about the region.

LAND:

1.2 million sq km (about one eighth of China's territory)

Four cities (Lhasa, Chamdo, Nyingchi, Shigatse ) and three prefectures (Nagqu, Ngari, Shannan)

5,465 villages

4,000 km borderline (one sixth of China's entire borderline)

4,000 meters above sea level on average

60 percent as much oxygen in the air as in inland regions

RESOURCES

439 billion cubic meters of water (excluding underground water; more than any other Chinese province or region)

84 million hectares of natural grassland (more than any other Chinese province or region)

441,700 hectares of arable land

14.72 million hectares of forest (forest coverage rate 11.98 percent)

33.9 percent of the region is nature reserves

125 types of wildlife under official protection

150,000 Tibetan antelopes

40,000 wild yaks

DEMOGRAPHICS

3.176 million people

95.74 percent are Tibetans and other minor ethnic groups

25.7 percent of people live in urban areas (74.3 percent rurally)

68.2-year life expectancy (eight years lower than inland, due to altitude)

327,000 people are classed as poverty-stricken

608,500 students

0.57-percent illiteracy rate

Communist Party of China (CPC)

306,533 CPC members in Tibet in 2014 (10.22 percent of population)

6,000 CPC organizations

LEGISLATORS

21 people are national legislators or deputies to the National People's Congress

445 people are Tibetan regional legislators (68 percent of them are ethnic minorities)

ADMINISTRATION

59,336 public servants

70.95 percent of officials in Tibet are ethnic minorities

129 registered foreign nationals working in Tibet

MONEY (2014; 1 U.S. dollar = 6.35 yuan)

92 billion yuan in GDP (281 times the figure 50 years ago)

111.97 billion yuan in fixed asset investment

22,016 yuan of annual disposable income (urban per capita)

7,359 yuan of annual disposable income (rural per capita)

15 million tourists (20-percent growth from 2013)

33 cities with direct flights to Tibet

75,470 km of highway

RELIGION

46,000 monks and nuns

1,787 religious venues

358 living Buddhas

Four mosques

One Catholic church