BEIJING, Oct 2 (Reuter) - These are the key facts about Tibet:

Official name: Tibet Autonomous Region. Capital: Lhasa.

Population: Around 2.4 million of whom about 2.3 million are ethnic Tibetans, according to official 1995 figures, which do not include an undisclosed number of troops and police stationed by China in the Himalayan region.

Area: 470,000 sq miles (1.2 million sq km), much of it above 15,000 feet (4,500 metres), hence the name "roof of the world." Tibet shares its border with India, Nepal, Bhutan and Burma and the Chinese areas of Xinjiang, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan home to another two million or so ethnic Tibetans.

Economy: Although believed to be rich in mineral resources, such as lithium, borax, chromite, uranium, coal, iron, copper and semi-precious stones, Tibet's economy is based on livestock yaks and goats and barley.

Beijing says it has allocated tens of billions of yuan to Tibet since 1949 to improve conditions there.

Tibet has no railways. Roads linking it to the outside world are poor. The main airlink is with Chengdu in Sichuan Province.

In 1994, the average annual net income of farmers and herdsmen in the region was 550 yuan ($66), rising steadily but still well below the national average of 1,200 yuan ($145) for rural residents.

Urban conditions have become more modernised. In 1993, China said that for every 100 city households there were 212 bicycles, 88 colour televisions, 42 washing machines and 24 refrigerators.

Modern history: Controversy rages over the degree of Tibet's political independence from China in recent centuries. Beijing stakes its claim of sovereignty back to the 13th century when Mongol hordes held sway over large parts of Asia.

Communist troops entered Tibet in 1950 and overthrew the Buddhist theocracy in power. Nine years later a large-scale uprising exploded and Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled into India with thousands of followers. Beijing began to reform Tibet radically along communist lines. Many monasteries were destroyed or disbanded.

During Chairman Mao Zedong's chaotic Cultural Revolution (1966-76), fanatical Red Guards, including many Tibetans, destroyed all but a few of the region's 2,000 monasteries.

Exiled Tibetans allege that one million Tibetans have died of famine and persecution in China since the 1949 revolution. Beijing denies this.

In 1980, the Chinese leadership admitted it had made mistakes in Tibet and issued orders calling for wide-ranging economic reforms and more respect for traditional economic and cultural values.

The new policies called for increased investment in roads, schools and hospitals. A large number of ethnic Han Chinese officials many sent there against their will and unable to speak Tibetan were replaced by local people.

Beijing asserts that investment by the central government has managed to reduce the number of illiterates and semi-literates to about 40 per cent of the population and to improve health.

As the region slowly gained in wealth and opened its doors to the outside world again, so the movement for independence grew in strength.

China has refused to hold talks with the Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his peaceful struggle to gain more autonomy for the region. Beijing says the Dalai Lama is actually seeking full independence from China.

Separatist violence periodically rocks the region.

Beijing clamped martial law on after anti-Chinese riots shook Lhasa in March 1989 in which officials said 16 people were killed and about 100 injured.

Although China lifted martial law on Lhasa in 1990, it has kept extremely heavy security in place.

Tensions between Beijing and the Dalai Lama flared anew in 1995 when the exiled god-king identified an alternative choice to China's for the reincarnated Panchen Lama, the region's second spiritual leader.

Pro-independence forces keep up a steady flow of small-scale demonstrations, which often end in arrests.

Human rights groups allege widespread torture and ill-treatment of detainees. China denies that malpractices take place.