Housing construction lagged behind urban population growth.[1] A 1978 survey of housing conditions in 192 cities found that their combined population had increased by 83 percent between 1949 and 1978, but housing floor space had only grown by 46.7 percent.[1] In 1978 there were only 3.6 square meters of living space per inhabitant in these cities, a reduction of 0.9 square meter since 1949.[1] To remedy this problem, construction of modern urban housing became a top priority in the late 1970s, and by the mid-1980s new high-rise apartment blocks and the tall cranes used in their construction were ubiquitous features of large cities.[1] Some apartments in the new buildings had their own lavatories, kitchens, and balconies, but others shared communal facilities.[1] Nearly all were of much higher quality than older houses, many of which were built of mud bricks and lacked plumbing.[1]