How many economic recessions has the U.S. economy gone through since the Great Depression?

The U.S. economy has experienced 13 economic recessions since the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s. The timeline of economic recessions is often marked by periods of significant decline in GDP, unemployment rising, and reduced consumer spending and investment. Recognizing the total number of recessions involves looking at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) data, which identifies these downturns based on economic activity.

After the Great Depression, the U.S. faced multiple recessions, with notable ones occurring in the 1970s (due to oil crises), early 1980s, early 1990s, early 2000s (following the dot-com bubble), the Great Recession (2007-2009), and the brief recession in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each recession has unique causes and consequences, but the cumulative count of these downturns totals 13 from the end of the Great Depression to the present.