Facts about the Causes and During the Great Depression .

A survey of 1928 showed that 60% of American families earned less than $2000 a year - the minimum needed to survive .

During the 1920s as more and more Americans bought shares on the stock exchance, share prices kept rising .

In 1928, share prices did not rise as much as in previous years. Many companies were not selling as many goods, so their profits fell and people were less willing to buy their shares .

In 1929 alone, nearly 700 banks collasped .

The value of goods sold in shops fell by 50% .
The total welath produced by the country fell by just under 50% .
About 10,000 banks stopped trading .
Thousands of companies went out of business . 20,000 went bankrupt in 1932 alone .
The number of unemployed workers rose from 1.5 million to 12.8 million .
Farm income and the wages of farmworkers fell by 50% .

Unemployment reached 25% of the workforce by 1933 .
In Chicago, nearly half the labour force was unemployed in 1933 .
For those in work, wages were cut by 25% .
In 1932 alone, a quarter of a million Americans lost their homes .
The number of Americans committing suicide rose during the Depression to a peak of 23,000 in 1932 .