US Recessions

This is a list of recessions that have affected the United States. Though in popular thought a recession is two quarters of negative GDP growth, the beginning and ending dates of U.S. recessions are officially determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).[2] From 1945-2007 the NBER has identified 11 recessions;[3] their average duration was 10 months (peak to trough).[4]

Most of the recessions listed here have affected economies on a worldwide scale; some of them are the Great Depression, the late 1980s recession, and the early 2000s recession. Recessions in one country are often grouped together with recessions in other countries that are related, and they commonly share a focal point as the cause of the recession.[5]

Note that before detailed economic statistics began to be gathered in the nineteenth century, it was difficult to tell when recessions occurred.[6] In spite of this, it is possible to estimate when economic recessions began because they were typically caused by external actions on the economic system such as wars and variations in the weather.[7]