Email(4) Industrial Structure and Development Pattern
Tibet's industrial structure has been increasingly optimized, as the region's economic aggregate is expanding, with its industries developing at a rapid and coordinated speed. This can be seen in Fig. 8, which shows the proportion of the added value of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in the region's GDP and the ratio between the three industries in the three years of 1959, 1997 and 2008.In 1959, the proportion of Tibet's primary, secondary and tertiary industries in the region's GDP was 73.60 percent, 12.60 percent and 13.80 percent, respectively; the added value of primary industry accounted for over 70 percent of the GDP, indicating that Tibet was then a typical agricultural society. In 1997, the proportion of Tibet's primary, secondary and tertiary industries in the region's GDP was 37.80 percent, 21.90 percent and 40.30 percent, respectively; the added value of tertiary industry made up over 40 percent of the GDP, indicating that tertiary industry had become the region's largest type of industry. In 2008, the proportion of these three types of industries in the region's GDP was 15.30 percent, 29.20 percent and 55.50 percent, respectively; the added value of tertiary industry accounted for over 55 percent of the GDP, indicating that tertiary industry was playing a dominant role.
In 1959, the ratio of added value of Tibet's primary, secondary and tertiary industries was 1:0.17:0.19; primary industry being the largest industry proves that Tibet was a typical agricultural society. In 1984, the ratio of added value of the three types of industries was 1:0.44:0.71; the plunging ratio of the added value of primary industry in the GDP indicates that it was beginning to lose its domination in the region's economy. In 1997, the same ratio turned out to be 1:0.58:1.07; the added value of primary industry historically gave way to that of tertiary industry. In 2003, the ratio became 1:1.17:2.38; the added value of tertiary industry made up more than half of the region's GDP, and the added value of agriculture took the last place. Tibet's industrial structure was upgraded again, forming a pattern with tertiary industry as the largest, secondary industry taking the middle place and primary industry as the smallest one in light of their weight in the region's GDP. This pattern has since continued, indicating the soundness of regional economic development.
Thus, judged from either the proportion of the added value of the three types of industries, or the ratio between the three of them, Tibet's present economic structure has achieved a transformation from one mainly relying on the manufacturing sector, to one depending mainly on the service sector. An economic structure mainly supported by the service sector can help create more job opportunities, and will play an important role in preserving the region's ecological environment and traditional culture.
