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.
Cheddar News' Shannon LaNier spoke with Meredith Maskara, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Greater New York, about what it takes to run of the largest Girl Scouts organizations in the country and the only one that is 100 percent urban. The group serves 25,000 girl with the support of 3,000 volunteers. Maskara gave viewers a sneak preview of the cookies soon to be available across the city.
The prosecutor in the case against an Arizona rancher accused of killing a Mexican man on his land near the U.S.-Mexico border alleged during a court hearing Wednesday that the rancher fired that day on a group of about eight unarmed people.
The winner of a $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot — the fourth largest in U.S. history — has come forward to collect the prize, state officials said Wednesday.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission says The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its investment arm will pay $5 million in fines.
A brutal winter storm knocked out power in California, closed interstate highways from Arizona to Wyoming and prompted more than 1,200 flight cancellations Wednesday.
Your Need2Know headlines for the day
Migrants wait to be processed after crossing the border on Jan. 6, 2023, near Yuma, Ariz. The Biden administration says it will generally deny asylum to migrants who show up at the U.S. southern border without first seeking protection in a country they passed through. That mirrors an attempt by the Trump administration that never took effect because it was blocked in court. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
According to forecasts, about 40 million people from Nebraska through Michigan would be affected, with the worst hitting the Minneapolis-St. Paul region.
The maker of Enfamil announced a recall of about 145,000 cans of infant formula due to the possibility of cross-contamination with a bacteria that can cause serious illness or death.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered Norfolk Southern on Tuesday to pay for the cleanup of the East Palestine, Ohio train wreck and chemical release.
