Photo taken on March 16, 2009 shows Amai Tsering, 118, the oldest person in Tibet now, celebrating her 118th birthday with her great-granddaughters Yangji (R) and Medok Drolma (L).(Xinhua/Sonam Norbu)
 
Tibet, known as the "roof of the world," has witnessed a near doubling of Tibetans' life expectancy, from the average age of 35.5 before 1959 to 67.

"The increase in population and the lengthening of life expectancy have resulted from economic development and far better medical services," said Dekyi, vice-chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government.

Tibet now has 79 old people with an average age topping 100. Amai Tsering, born on March 16, 1891, has clearly experienced the changes via her own life.

Photo taken on June 13, 2006 shows a pair of grandfather and granddaughter in Nagchu Town, northern Tibet.(Xinhua/Jokho)

She used to make a living by grazing for the wealthy before the democratic reform was launched in 1959, leading a vagrant life with her descendents. Now she lives with her family members in Jiarong Village, Lhunzhub County and receives an 800-yuan subsidy for longevity each year from the County Government, with free medicines and a Tibetan doctor seeing her regularly.

The central government has earmarked 1.8 billion yuan to improve Tibet's medical services and public health since 1959. In 2010 Tibet's farmers and herders are expected to have an annul average medical subsidy of 180 yuan each.

Tibet has established 1,339 medical institutions with the number of doctors and nurses topping 10,635 now.

Tibetans' perception change in giving birth to babies has also saved many lives. Giving birth to a baby was regarded as secret and dirty before 1959 and many Tibetan women had to go to cowsheds to bear babies by themselves.

The Regional Government has adopted the policy to reduce the delivery expenses and raise the reimbursement ratio since the democratic reform was launched in 1959, with the result that more and more Tibetan women now give birth to babies in hospitals.

"The policy has substantially cut the infant mortality in Tibet," Wang Jianpeng, leader of the Grassroots Health and Maternal and Child Care Division of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Health Department.

Tibet's infant mortality now has been lowered to 27.1/1,000 from 430/1,000 in 1959 according to statistics.

The region's population shot up from 1.23 million in 1959 to 2.87 million in 2008, with Tibetans and other ethnic minorities accounting for 95 percent, according to the white paper: Fifty Years of Democratic Reform in Tibet issued in March of 2009.

Tibetans' average life expectancy will probably have reached 68 by 2015, according to a health promotion project for Tibet's farmers and herders.