Google Trends provides search data for terms searched in Google. It’s possible to narrow the search down by country and even by some states and cities (depending on search volume).

Google search data is now used to track the flu and has proven more reliable than the Center for Disease Control system that relied on doctor’s reports.

The Google data doesn’t reveal absolute numbers of searches, it shows only relative search volume.

Assuming that searches on the term “divorce” correlate to actual divorces then it looks like Google Trends reveals a downward slide. I didn’t do very well in statistics so maybe you should take a look for yourself.

It’s also interesting that while searches on the term “divorce” are down, references to that term in the media are up (thats’s what the line down at the bottom represents).