India, March 16 -- Recession are economic conditions that just about everyone dreads and are marked by negative economic growth that can last for several months or even years. They are natural parts of any economy's life cycle.

A period of recession consists of four phases:

In most cases, an economy is considered to be in recession where it has experienced two consecutive quarters of negative growth. An economy's growth is usually measured by its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In its history, the US has experienced dozens of recessions which lasted from anywhere between 65 to just two months. The average length of recessions in the US is 17 months, according to data available with the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The longest-e...