section_path: Economy
section_name: Economy
paragraph_text: Economy
  
  In general, China's minority regions have some of the highest per capita government spending public goods and services.: 366 Providing public goods and services in these areas is part of a government effort to reduce regional inequalities, reduce the risk of separatism, and stimulate economic development.: 366 Tibet has the highest amount of funding from the central government to the local government as of at least 2019.: 370–371 As of at least 2019, Tibet has the highest total per capita government expenditure of any region in China, including the highest per capita government expenditure on health care, the highest per capita government expenditure on education, and the second highest per capita government expenditure on social security and employment.: 367–369
  
  The Tibetans traditionally depended upon agriculture for survival. Since the 1980s, however, other jobs such as taxi-driving and hotel retail work have become available in the wake of Chinese economic reform. By 2023, its gross domestic product (GDP) stood at nearly 239.3 billion yuan (about 33.6 billion U.S. dollars), adding that the growth rates of the region's major economic indicators, including per capita disposable income, fixed asset investment, and total retail sales of consumer goods, all ranked first in China. The added value of the service sector accounted for 54.1 percent and contributed a 57.6 percent share to economic growth. Investment in fixed assets also grew rapidly last year, with investment in infrastructure up by 34.8 percent and investment in areas related to people's livelihoods up by 31.8 percent. The region's GDP grew by an annual average of 9.5 percent from 2012 to 2023, about 3 percentage points higher than the China's national average.
  
  By 2022, the GDP of the region surpassed 213 billion yuan (US$31.7 billion in nominal), while GDP per capita reached CN¥58,438 (US$8,688 in nominal). In 2022, Tibet's GDP per capita ranked 25th highest in China, as well as higher than any South Asian country except Maldives. In 2008, Chinese news media reported that the per capita disposable incomes of urban and rural residents in Tibet averaged (CN¥12,482 (US$1,798) and CN¥3,176 (US$457) respectively.
  
  While traditional agriculture and animal husbandry continue to lead the area's economy, in 2005 the tertiary sector contributed more than half of its GDP growth, the first time it surpassed the area's primary industry.
  
  The collection of caterpillar fungus (Cordyceps sinensis, known in Tibetan as Yartsa Gunbu) in late spring / early summer is in many areas the most important source of cash for rural households. It contributes an average of 40% to rural cash income and 8.5% to the Tibet Autonomous Region's GDP.
  
  The re-opening of the Nathu La pass (on southern Tibet's border with India) should facilitate Sino-Indian border trade and boost Tibet's economy.
  
  The China Western Development policy was adopted in 2000 by the central government to boost economic development in western China, including the Tibet Autonomous Region.: 133 Because the central government permits Tibet to have a preferentially low corporate income tax rate, many corporations have registered in Tibet.: 146