The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009, overlapping with the closely related 2008 financial crisis. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At the time, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded that it was the most severe economic and financial meltdown since the Great Depression.
The Great Recession was caused by many weaknesses that slowly developed in the financial system, along with a series of triggering events that began with the bursting of the United States housing bubble in 2005–2012.