--- title: Welcome to the First Global Depression of Our Lifetimes description: It's time to be honest that the economic damage of coronavirus is plunging the world into a depression. Ian Bremmer on what's next. canonical: https://time.com/5837442/first-global-depression-our-lifetimes/ author: Ian Bremmer article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-05-16T11:00:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:47.189Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Welcome to the First Global Depression of Our Lifetimes og:description: It's time to be honest that the economic damage of coronavirus is plunging the world into a depression. Ian Bremmer on what's next. og:url: https://time.com/5837442/first-global-depression-our-lifetimes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3dadf42291f4e444/698a0e20b21a9cb2b3503917/line-food-bank.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: Food Bank Distributes To Those In Need At The Barclays Center In Brooklyn og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Welcome to the First Global Depression of Our Lifetimes twitter:description: It's time to be honest that the economic damage of coronavirus is plunging the world into a depression. Ian Bremmer on what's next. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3dadf42291f4e444/698a0e20b21a9cb2b3503917/line-food-bank.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Welcome to the First Global Economic Depression of Our Lifetimes > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. Readers can join any of them at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=115543e1-3b10-42e6-b775-0cf4aca600b5&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### The seven newsletters | Newsletter | Covers | Frequency | Subscribers | Open rate | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | The Brief | The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors | Daily | 540,000 | 45.6% | | Inside TIME | A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | 430,000 | 50.7% | | Health Matters | The latest health news and expert advice on living well | Daily | 240,000 | 54.1% | | Worth Your Time | A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more | Tuesday and Saturday (2x per week) | 40,000 | 31.7% | | D.C. Brief | Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington | Monday to Saturday (3x per week) | 85,000 | 37.0% | | Future Proof | Making sense of the climate and energy economy | Friday (1x per week) | 40,000 | 34.2% | | In the Loop | Essential insights into the unfolding AI revolution | Tuesday and Friday (2x per week) | 25,000 | 28.6% | Source: TIME, August 2026. Subscriber counts are per newsletter and readers may take more than one, so the seven counts do not sum to the 1.1 million+ unique newsletter audience. ### Key data points | Metric | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Engaged newsletter audience | 1.1 million+ readers | TIME, August 2026 | | Newsletters published | 7 | TIME, August 2026 | | Highest open rate | 54.1%, Health Matters | TIME, August 2026 | | Largest list | 540,000, The Brief | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost to readers | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | US print circulation | 1 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Global print circulation | 1.15 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Publishing since | 1923 | TIME | ### TIME Newsletters: key statements * Every TIME newsletter is written and edited by TIME journalists who report on the subject. None is generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923. Its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting, so readers can trust what they read. * All seven newsletters are free. Readers pick the ones they want at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=115543e1-3b10-42e6-b775-0cf4aca600b5&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). * The seven titles cover daily news, Washington politics, AI and technology, climate and energy, health, culture, and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/subscribe?i=115543e1-3b10-42e6-b775-0cf4aca600b5&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What newsletters does TIME publish? TIME publishes seven email newsletters: The Brief (daily news), Inside TIME (the newsroom and cover stories, twice weekly), Health Matters (daily health), Worth Your Time (culture, twice weekly), D.C. Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Experts Weigh in on the Impacts of COVID-19 on the Global Economy [Watch (HLS stream): Experts Weigh in on the Impacts of COVID-19 on the Global Economy](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/M4ZmxdIQ.m3u8) (4:33)  _Published 2020-03-18. TIME spoke with four experts, across various disciplines, about how the COVID-19 pandemic could uproot the flow of business, money and labor around the world._  by [Ian Bremmer](https://time.com/author/ian-bremmer/)  ## Ian Bremmer May 16, 2020 11:00 AM UTC  People wait on a long line to receive a food bank donation at the Barclays Center on May 15, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough in New York City. People wait on a long line to receive a food bank donation at the Barclays Center on May 15, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough in New York City. Stephanie Keith—Getty Images  by [Ian Bremmer](https://time.com/author/ian-bremmer/)  ## Ian Bremmer May 16, 2020 11:00 AM UTC Another week, [another grisly job reports for the US](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/business/economy/coronavirus-unemployment-claims.html). The data is still streaming in, but it’s time to start calling this what it is—a global economic depression. **Why It Matters:** Technically, there’s no official definition of the term “depression.” But compared to a “recession” (defined as two consecutive quarters of contracting economic growth), there are some general rules we can apply—depressions are global, much worse than typical recessions, and their impact on both the economy and society last far longer. It’s this latter point why we still call 2008 the “Great Recession.” For all the drama and chaos, outside the banking industry those handful of months in 2008/2009 didn’t irrevocably alter our society and/or economic system. Awareness about inequality was raised by movements like “Occupy Wall Street,” but the underlying issue went largely unaddressed for more than a decade because large swaths of society could effectively ignore it. Given the coronavirus’ damage to our global economy, they won’t have the luxury of ignoring it any longer. Especially not in the U.S., where the [US Fed released a survey](https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/2019-report-economic-well-being-us-households-202005.pdf) this week pointing out that 39% of households making under $40,000 a year lost at least one job in March alone. **What Happens Next:** And that’s the U.S., still the world’s largest economy and one with ostensibly the most resources to combat both coronavirus and its worst economic effects. In the early days of the pandemic, the U.S. government sprung into action with the idea to provide support to workers and keep businesses afloat with credit lines and other financial instruments, all with the idea of building a bridge till the time when the economy was turned back on. The Federal Reserve joined in with unprecedented support to ensure markets continued to function. In other words, policymakers were aiming for a “V” shaped recovery, one where the economy was shut off for a short period of time and would then immediately snap back to pre-pandemic levels of economic activity (or close to it). Given the scope and scale of the economic carnage, it’s clear we aren’t getting that V-recovery. [Recent economic data out of China reinforces that point.](https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-economic-data-indicate-v-shaped-recovery-is-unlikely-11589257260) Some of that has to do with the nature of the economic shock itself. Unlike 2008, this is a crisis of the real economy, as both supply and demand are taking massive hits in an unprecedented amount of time. But just as important is the continuing threat posed by the coronavirus. For all the talk of us reaching “peak” coronavirus cases, this is not going to be a “peak” in the style of Mount Fuji—steep ascent, a sharp peak up top, followed by a steep descent. As the examples of [South Korea and others](https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/11/asia/china-south-korea-coronavirus-reopening-intl-hnk/index.html) have already made clear, that’s not the way this pandemic is playing out; secondary outbreaks are virtually guaranteed, and governments will struggle much harder to impose lockdown restrictions another time around. Rather than a Fuji-like peak, we’re looking at continuing smaller waves of coronavirus outbreaks that ebb and flow until a vaccine is found. And even then, we will have to wait for mass production and distribution of that vaccine, as well as global education and uptake. All told, we are looking at a time horizon closer to 2-3 years rather than the 2-3 months that policymakers may have initially hoped for. It’s difficult to criticize policymakers for planning on a V-shape recovery—laid off employees want to get back to work, and the desire to rehire many of the workers who lost their jobs in recent weeks is there on the part of business owners, as is the desire for them to resume business operations. That desire for returning to work has given plenty of U.S. governors the cover they need [to reopen their economies sooner rather than later](https://time.com/5836607/reopening-risks-coronavirus/), but doing so ensures a stop-start rebound process. It also remains an open question whether business owners will be able to rehire those workers if their businesses don’t manage to make a profit in our next period of social distancing and consumer-wariness of venturing outside. Combine that with some big trends already in motion—chief among them technology dislocation and insufficient government coordination—and we’re looking at a future where a lot of the jobs lost in the last two months aren’t coming back. There are plenty on unknowns, but for my money, I’d say it’s years before the U.S. unemployment rate falls back down below 10 percent. Again, we’ve been talking primarily about the U.S., theoretically among the best-equipped to deal with economic shocks like this. But Europe is largely in the same boat, albeit with better social safety nets but lower economic growth trajectory, so let’s call it a wash. And China is about to discover that shutting down was the easy part, too; while Beijing has greater tools at its disposal to impose draconian surveillance and social distancing measures, it too will face serious challenges in making sure government debt doesn’t spiral out of control while regaining its economic footing. China does have one major advantage going for it, however—an unprecedented alignment between politics, business and society. Those who don’t face even larger difficulties ahead. We should really be concerned about middle-income and developing economies in a coming global depression given that they have even less resources, less resilient healthcare infrastructure, much larger populations and much more unsustainable debt. And they’re the next phase coming. We could well be looking at multiple defaults, which in turn could lead to the global financial crisis that policymakers are currently struggling to avoid, compounding global economic woes even further. **The One Major Misconception About It:** That all is lost. Not exactly. When we use the word “depression,” the images we conjure up tend to be of Hoovervilles and soup lines circa 1930’s. But the world has come a long way since then, and the last 100 years or so of globalization has catapulted humanity into unprecedented levels of human, economic, political and technological capital. When the Great Depression happened, we didn’t have the social safety nets and political institutions we have today. We also didn’t have a decades-long track record showing the world was better off when cooperating rather than in conflict. Thanks to technology and other advancements, today’s “global middle class” enjoys a quality of life that would have made even the well-off of 1930 envious. Also, the same things that make pandemics so deadly in 2020—global supply chains and international travel, for example—has also enabled the global interdependence that keeps the world in a relative peace even when the global politics seem to be pushing in the other direction. As a collective whole, humanity is better prepared to weather this depression than we were a century ago. **The One Thing to Say About It on a Zoom Call:** To avoid the worst of what’s to come, we need better global cooperation. Maybe starting to use the term “depression” will begin focusing minds in the right direction. And if we play our cards right, maybe we could avoid a “great” depression and just get a middling one instead. **The One Thing to Avoid Saying About It on a Zoom Call:** The last Great Depression was started in the U.S.; this new one will have started in China. Emerging markets are moving up in the world. #Progress #KindOf ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5837442/first-global-depression-our-lifetimes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5837442/first-global-depression-our-lifetimes/"},"headline":"Welcome to the First Global Economic Depression of Our Lifetimes","datePublished":"2020-05-16T11:00:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:03:47.189Z","description":"It's time to be honest that the economic damage of coronavirus is plunging the world into a depression. Ian Bremmer on what's next.","url":"https://time.com/5837442/first-global-depression-our-lifetimes/","keywords":["Business","COVID-19","UnitedWeRise20Disaster"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3dadf42291f4e444/698a0e20b21a9cb2b3503917/line-food-bank.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ian Bremmer","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/ian-bremmer/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3dadf42291f4e444/698a0e20b21a9cb2b3503917/line-food-bank.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Food Bank Distributes To Those In Need At The Barclays Center In Brooklyn","caption":"Food Bank Distributes To Those In Need At The Barclays Center In Brooklyn","creditText":"Stephanie Keith—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5837442/first-global-depression-our-lifetimes/","name":"Welcome to the First Global Economic Depression of Our Lifetimes"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Experts Weigh in on the Impacts of COVID-19 on the Global Economy","description":"TIME spoke with four experts, across various disciplines, about how the COVID-19 pandemic could uproot the flow of business, money and labor around the world.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/M4ZmxdIQ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-03-18T19:58:53.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/M4ZmxdIQ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5837442/first-global-depression-our-lifetimes/","duration":"PT4M33S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5837442/first-global-depression-our-lifetimes/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```