The Great Depression (1929)

The Great Depression (1929) set the benchmark for catastrophic economic collapse, erasing 89% of the Dow Jones' value by 1932—a deeper decline than the 78% Nasdaq crash of the dot-com bubble. The market's implosion triggered a decade where U.S. unemployment soared to 25%, and nearly 9,000 banks failed, shattering millions of families. This downturn is often considered the worst in history, and it retains that grim title for its sheer scale of human suffering, though it unfolded more slowly than #1's 2008 crisis. An estimated $30 billion in deposits evaporated—equivalent to about $500 billion today—and global GDP contracted by 15% between 1929 and 1932, a deeper relative drop than any subsequent crash.