India’s Anxiety Levels are at 5 year high: Google Search!
Google Search Trends Indicate that India’s Anxiety Levels are at a 5 year high!
While search trends have reached peaks during the Corona Crisis, they have been going up since 2018. Look at Google Search Index in the last 5 years
2015 – 19.4
2016 – 19.6
2017 – 21.6
2018- 27.6
2019 – 35.3
2020 until March – 33
2020 April to June – 43
It is clear that the Corona Crisis has pushed Anxiety levels to a new high but it is also clear that as the economy started going down from early 2018, anxiety levels have gone up
Link with Consumer Confidence: RBI’s consumer confidence data suggests that the Current Situation Index started to deteriorate from June 2017 around the time GST was launched and had remained low except for a bounce during Post-Pulwama when India destroyed Pakistani targets inside Pakistan. It has fallen since then and according to RBI, consumer confidence is at a historic low now.
What are people searching?
- Anxiety/ Anxious
- Anxiety Disorder
- Anxiety Symptoms
- Depression and Anxiety
Amongst the States with > 10m population, searches are the highest amongst the following States
- Delhi
- Uttarakhand
- Maharashtra
- Karnataka
- Haryana
The list of states suggest more affluent states are likely to be searching for anxiety information.