• usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml
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    3 months ago

    Not sure what you’re saying here since that would make the drop larger? The US population is still growing. The US population grew by an estimated ~0.5-0.6% between 2022-2023 and another ~0.5-0.6% between 2023-2024 (the two periods mentioned in the article)

    • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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      3 months ago

      If a stat is X per 100,000 citizens for 20 years ago and then X per 100,000 last year, last year would be greater overall if the population grew. Comparing two recent numbers the error becomes less important, I’m more talking about the headline looking back.

      • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml
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        3 months ago

        They aren’t comparing directly to 20 years ago, they are comparing the delta between years. Saying that it’s the largest drop between two consecutive years when you look at the past 2 decades