The Māori renaissance is the revival in fortunes of the Māori of New Zealand beginning in the 1970s. Until 1914, and possibly later, the perception of the Māori race, although dying out, was capable and worthy of saving, but only within a European system. From the 1970s, government policy changed to promoting a bicultural New Zealand society. This change has led to Maori being politically, culturally and artistically ascendant. Proportional to the total New Zealand population, people claiming to be of Maori descent represented 8 percent in 1966 and about 14 percent in 1996.