Focus is on the following areas in this examination of population and birth planning in the People's Republic of China: organization of the birth planning program (decentralized policy implementation and the health care delivery system); the 3rd birth planning campaign (reproductive norms and numerical targets and the use of persuasion and education); contraceptive methods and their use (IUDs, sterilization, steroidal contraceptives, condoms, abortion, and new male methods); birth planning program results (quality of the data, birth planning statistics, the late marriage rate, and the variation in results); the 1 child campaign (the 1 child policy, changing contraceptive use, incentives, penalties, results of and problems with the 1 child campaign); current policies (changes in age at marriage and the full responsibility system); demographic projections; and program implications (information and persuasion, accessibility, and shared responsibilities. The People's Republic of China, with a population of about 1 billion in 1981, is the 1st country in the world to undertake a deliberate and comprehensive policy to reach zero population growth by the year 2000 or as soon as possible. The policy stresses late marriage, universal use of contraception, and the 1 child family. With this policy, China has reduced its birthrate from 34/1000 in 1970 to 18/1000 in 1979. By 1980, as a result of the recent campaign for 1 child families, an estimated 51% of all births in China were 1st births. By 1981 over 1/2 of all couples with 1 child had pledged not to have another. The primary features of the Chinese birth planning program are:  strong commitment by national leadership; a highly organized social structure with strong political control, in which leaders at all levels are held responsible for birth planning activities, and families are rewarded or punished depending on their compliance with reproductive norms; continuing information, education, and motivation campaigns; and the wide availability of a variety of fertility control methods. Much of the success of the birth planning program is attributed to the country's administrative and political structure and the fact that birth planning is an integral part of the structure.