Analyzing the trends In addition, I wanted to take a look at previous recessionary periods and evaluated (1) how long they typically lasted and (2) how stocks performed as the economy began its recovery. Here's what I found: Since 1929, there have been 13 recessions declared by the National Bureau of Economic Research (the 14th and current recession started in December 2007.) The longest of those recessions lasted 43 months, while the shortest lasted 6 months. The average duration for those 13 recessions was 12.92 months. The current great unknown is how long this recession will last. As of Feb. 1, the current recession is clocking in at 14 months, longer than all but three of the recessions we've seen since the Great Depression. It's not uncommon right now to hear comparisons of this current situation to that of the Great Depression, and in my opinion like those of many others, this opinion is way off-base. There are countless reasons why it is extremely unlikely that we'll see a protracted malaise in the economy.