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Can a 4-year-old go out alone? Why did a payphone in China keep ringing? Does stinky sweat have an upside? These are some of our non-pandemic global stories that drew the most readers in 2022.

It was a big year for viruses, which simply refused to be ignored. And unlike the previous two years, COVID had to share the spotlight.

The stories that NPR's readers embraced range from news of President Trump's first year in D.C. to warnings about living in an "underslept state" and "What Living On $100,000 A Year Looks Like."