By the 1960s, when population growth rates surged after a nationwide famine, family planning commissions were instated throughout the country. Population control campaigns did not cover ground, however, until after 1971, when a number of voluntary measures, such as later marriage ages, fixed intervals of years between births, and a limit of two children, were advocated by the central government. After Mao's death, Deng Xiaoping rose to power in 1978. Under his leadership, contraceptive measures became priority policies in the context of family planning. Deng believed population control to be essential to economic growth, and went to extreme lengths surrounding reproductive control to achieve that goal. Amidst an urgent political culture of economic, and developmental ambition, the government implemented the one-child policy in 1979.
