The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the 1930s. It began in the United States after the fall of stock prices that began around September 4, 1929, and became worldwide news with dramatic declines in output, severe unemployment, and banking crises in the United States and Europe. The Great Depression had devastating effects in countries both rich and poor, and it took many countries until the late 1930s or early 1940s to recover to pre-depression levels of economic activity.