BEIJING, March 19 (Reuter) - China published new census data from Tibet on Tuesday that it said refuted western allegations that the Himalayan region's native Tibetan population was being diluted by ethnic Han Chinese immigrants.

"Local officials said that China has not engaged in 'mass immigration' to the Tibet Autonomous Region at all," the official Xinhua news agency said in releasing the new data.

International human-rights groups and the exiled god-king the Dalai Lama have said Beijing has moved large numbers of Han Chinese into Tibet to "sinicise" the region by diluting the ethnic Tibetan population.

"Actually, the percentage of Han population in the total population of Tibet has continued dropping year by year because the central government has adopted a policy of encouraging the population growth of Tibetans," the news agency said.

A sample population survey conducted in late 1995 showed that Han Chinese in Tibet numbered just 79,000, reflecting a fall to 3.3 percent of the overall population from 3.7 percent in 1990, Xinhua said.

The report, based on a survey on October 1, 1995, showed the total population of Tibet was 2.389 million, up 193,000 or 8.8 percent compared with 1990.

The average population growth rate was 1.6 percent a year.

The survey also showed that the level of education in Tibet had been raised, with the percentage of illiterate people in the population dropping to 40 percent from 44.4 percent.

China is eager to deflect criticism of its policies in the Himalayan region, which has been rocked periodically by anti-Chinese unrest in recent years.