COVID-19 lockdowns and demographically-relevant Google Trends: A cross-national analysis.

ABSTRACT: The spread of COVID-19 and resulting local and national lockdowns have a host of potential consequences for demographic trends. While impacts on mortality and, to some extent, short-term migration flows are beginning to be documented, it is too early to measure actual consequences for family demography. To gain insight into potential future consequences of the lockdown for family demography, we use cross-national Google Trends search data to explore whether trends in searches for words related to fertility, relationship formation, and relationship dissolution changed following lockdowns compared to average, pre-lockdown levels in Europe and the United States. Because lockdowns were not widely anticipated or simultaneous in timing or intensity, we exploit variability over time and between c

SUBMITTER: Berger LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7968661 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature