The phrase "a startling increase in" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a significant or surprising rise in a particular metric or phenomenon.
Example: "The report revealed a startling increase in the number of people seeking mental health services during the pandemic."
Alternatives: "a dramatic rise in" or "a significant surge in".
Since 2001, several areas have had a startling increase in food stamp use, mirroring a national trend.
Two in three girls aged 14 and 15 say they want to lose weight, according to an annual survey of 78,000 teenagers, which reveals a startling increase in recent years in teenage girls who are anxious about their size.
The Fire Department tracked a startling increase in cases of a particular lung scarring disease, known as sarcoidosis, among firefighters, which rose to five times the expected rate in the two years after Sept. 11.
"We had a startling increase in enrollment in Staten Island after a woman there received a $1,000 fine for pruning a tree," said Susan Gooberman, education director of the group.
Shortly afterwards, the collapse of the Soviet Union deprived the relationship of its "defining shared purpose".Since then, America's relations with China have been marked by a startling increase in economic interdependence, but not by any onset of mutual trust.
The range of problems analysts see among Thai youth are on full view here in Na Chueak in northeastern Thailand, where a startling increase in violence among young people belies the serenity of the Thai countryside.
There are, he asserts, 33 million free agents, a "staggering" total -- and a startling increase over the 25 million figure in his Fast Company story from just three years ago.
Pierce said that a sampling of that portion of the stream last September, a repeat of work done in September 1996, revealed a startling increase of trout.
In the last two years, the Department of Agriculture has reported 18 emergency outbreaks of foreign plant and animal diseases in the United States, a startling increase from the previous average of one or two a year.
There are over 9.5 million Californians living in rent-burdened households and there has been a startling increase of approximately 3.7 million rent-burdened tenants since the year 2000.
Texas showed a startling increase as well — with the feds seizing one and a half metric tons, versus about 350 kilos in 2012.
