BEIJING - The gross regional product (GRP) of Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region has rocketed from 129 million yuan ($21 million) in 1951 to 70.1 billion yuan last year, says a white paper issued on Tuesday.

The increase marked annual growth of 8.5 percent on average, says the white paper "Development and Progress of Tibet" issued by the Information Office of the State Council, adding that the region's per capita GRP reached 22,900 yuan.

According to the white paper, Tibet has realized double-digit growth for 19 consecutive years since 1994, with an annual growth rate of 12.7 percent on average.

Per capita net income of farmers and herdsmen maintained double-digit growth for 10 consecutive years, reaching 5,719 yuan in 2012. The per capita disposable income of urban dwellers was 18,028 yuan.

Thanks to a low-income housing and other favorable policies, 88.7 percent of farmers and herdsmen had been offered houses by the end of 2012, and all farmers and herdsmen will have moved into safe modern houses by the end of 2013, it says.

In local rural areas, infrastructure has been improved to provide the facilities, including water, power, transportation, telecommunications, natural gas, radio and television, and postal services.

Some 90 percent and 99.7 percent of Tibetan townships now have access to postal service and road networks, respectively. A total of 1.93 million farmers and herdsmen now have access to safe drinking water, and 150,000 rural households are using clean biogas.

According to the "CCTV Economic Life Survey" jointly hosted by the National Bureau of Statistics, China Post Group, and China Central Television (CCTV), Lhasa has topped the "happiness index" for five consecutive years.