By Alex Vuocolo
Headlines out of China were a drag on world markets Tuesday morning.
The country recorded 850,000 fewer people at the end of 2022 than the previous year. While China's rate of population growth has been slowing for years, most experts were not expecting a decline for at least another decade. This is the first drop since the 1950s, when the Communist Party's attempts to rapidly industrialize and collectivize farming led to a massive famine.
It's unclear how much the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the decline, given the lack of transparency around the country's reporting practices. What is clear is that one million fewer babies were born in 2022 than the year before, while deaths jumped from 10.14 to 10.41 million.
China's leaders have long considered overpopulation a problem, but in 2016 the government ended its controversial one-child policy in an effort to bolster birth rates.
Meanwhile, the country also reported its second-lowest growth rate in at least four decades.
The second-largest economy in the world grew by 3 percent in 2022, which is less than half the 2021 rate of 8.1 percent — though slightly higher than the 2.4 percent rate in 2020, when countrywide coronavirus shutdowns essentially ground the country to a halt.
In the fourth quarter of last year, the country reported zero growth.
Notably the country in recent months has eased up on its Zero-COVID policies, which reinstated lockdowns whenever there was an outbreak, sending shockwaves through the global economy.
In the West, China is synonymous with rapid economic and population growth. But these reports point toward a new era for the developing country.
The Mario Party continued as it faced little new competition at the box office.
Regulators seized troubled First Republic Bank early Monday, making it the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history, and promptly sold all of its deposits and most of its assets to JPMorgan Chase.
There were 301 active national drug shortages through March, according to the University of Utah Drug Information Service.
Francisco Oropeza, who they suspect of killing five of his neighbors near Houston, could be as far as 20 miles from the murder scene by now, according to San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers.
A peacock that escaped the Bronx Zoo was back in his enclosure on Thursday after strutting his stuff down a Bronx sidewalk earlier this week. The peacock escaped Wednesday and spent the night in a tree nearby before flying back to zoo grounds.
The white woman who accused Black teenager Emmett Till of whistling at and accosting her in Mississippi in 1955 — causing his lynching, which galvanized a generation of activists to rise up in the Civil Rights Movement — has died at 88.
Two U.S. Army helicopters collided and crashed Thursday in Alaska while returning from a training flight, killing three soldiers and injuring a fourth.
We'd like to take a moment to share One Good Thing happening in the world today. This special moment is from a Toronto Blue Jays game on Tuesday, when one of the players made a young fan's day with a special surprise.
Cheddar News' weeklong series on personal fitness, Shannon Shapes Up, continues with Shannon LaNier busting a move at 305 Fitness in New York City. The gym offers full-body dance cardio workouts everyday with a live DJ.
A bejeweled crown once belonging to Queen front man Freddie Mercury could be yours for the right price. The 'Bohemian Rhapsody' singer's vast collection of costumes, including this replica of St. Edward's crown was worn by Mercury during his last concert in 1986.
