Average Length of Recessions and Depressions

Last month the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) said we have officially entered a recession in December 2007. This puts the duration of the recession at 13 months. Between 1920 and 1991 the duration of all recessions was 6 to 18 months except for the Great Depression which was 43 months long.

Recession Time Span  Duration   GDP    Max    Diff.
                      Months           UER     %

Depressions   
Jan. 1920-July 1921  18   n.a.  11.9   97
Aug. 1929-Mar. 1933  43  -32.6  24.9  100
May 1937-June 1938  13  -18.2  20.0   97

Six Sharp Recessions   
May  1923-July 1924  14  -4.1  5.5    94
Nov. 1948-Oct. 1949  11  -1.5  7.9    90
July 1953-May  1954  10  -3.2  6.1    87
Aug. 1957-Apr. 1958   8  -3.3  7.5    88
Nov. 1973-Mar. 1975  16  -4.9  9.0    88
July 1981-Nov. 1982  16  -2.6  10.8   72

Five Mild Recessions   
Oct. 1926-Nov. 1927  13  -2.0    4.4    71
Apr. 1960-Feb. 1961  10  -1.2    7.1    80
Dec. 1969-Nov. 1970  11  -1.0    6.1    80
Jan. 1980-July 1980  6  -2.5    7.8    63
July 1990-March 1991  8  -1.2    6.9    73

Averages   
1920-1938 (5)  20  -14.2  13.3  92
1948-1991 (9)  11  -2.4  7.7  80

GDP = percent change in real GDP
Depth = Maximum Unemployment Rate
Diff = Diffusion or Percent of Industries with Declining Employment, maximu
Note that the brief and mild recession of 1945 is omitted in the above table.

SOURCE: "Recessions" by Geoffrey H. Moore