Indonesia’s benchmark Jakarta Composite Stock Index has fallen 15% over the past two trading sessions, taking it to levels last seen in 2013. The decline has erased more than a decade of gains and revived a question that long-term investors often overlook: equity markets do not always deliver positive returns over extended periods.
Several major stock indices around the world have taken years, and in some cases decades, to recover from market crashes. Japan’s Nikkei 225 took about 34 years to surpass its 1989 peak, while Taiwan’s benchmark took roughly 30 years to recover its previous high. China’s Shanghai Composite, meanwhile, remains below its 2007 record.
These prolonged recoveries, often described as time corrections, show how investors who buy near market peaks can wait years before an index returns to its previous level. The United States and India have also experienced extended periods in which benchmark indices struggled to regain earlier highs.
1. Japan: Nikkei 225 | 1989-2024 | About 34 years
Japan offers one of the clearest examples of a prolonged stock-market recovery. The Nikkei 225 reached a record 38,957.44 in December 1989 during the country’s asset-price bubble, according to Reuters.
The subsequent collapse in Japanese stocks was followed by decades of weak economic growth and deflation. The benchmark finally moved above its 1989 record in February 2024, ending a wait of roughly 34 years.
Investors who bought near the peak had to wait more than three decades for the index to recover its previous level.
2. Taiwan: TAIEX | 1990-2020 | About 30 years
Taiwan’s stock market surged during a speculative boom in the late 1980s, with the Taiwan Capitalisation Weighted Stock Index, or TAIEX, reaching a record of around 12,495 in February 1990.
The index subsequently suffered a sharp decline and spent much of the following three decades below that level. It finally surpassed its 1990 record in 2020, marking a recovery that took roughly 30 years.
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3. China: Shanghai Composite | 2007-present | About 19 years and counting
China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed to a record of just over 6,000 points in October 2007 as enthusiasm over the country’s economic boom fuelled a rally in equities.
Nearly two decades later, the benchmark has yet to return to that level. The index was trading below 4,000 in October 2026, leaving investors who bought near the 2007 peak waiting for a full recovery.
The prolonged period below its previous high highlights how an index can remain short of its peak even after years of trading and intervening market cycles.
4. United States: Three prolonged recoveries
The US stock market has experienced several extended periods of recovery, including after the Great Depression, during the 1970s and following the dot-com bubble.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average approached the 800-point mark in 1964 before spending much of the next 16 years struggling to establish a sustained breakout. The period included recessions, the oil shocks of the 1970s, high inflation and sharply rising interest rates. Records from S&P Dow Jones Indices show that the Dow did not enter a sustained new long-term bull phase until the early 1980s.
The Nasdaq Composite also took years to recover after the dot-com bubble burst. The index closed above 5,000 in March 2000, according to Nasdaq’s historical records, before a subsequent collapse in technology stocks wiped out much of its value. It took roughly 15 years for the Nasdaq to regain and sustainably surpass its dot-com-era peak, doing so in 2015.
The recovery after the Great Depression took even longer. The Dow Jones reached a peak of 380 in August 1929 before plunging during the market crash. It did not surpass that level again until 1954, a wait of about 25 years.
5. India: Sensex | 1992-2003 | About 11 years
India’s benchmark Sensex also experienced a prolonged recovery following the stock-market bubble associated with broker Harshad Mehta in the early 1990s.
The index peaked at around 4,000 points before falling and spending more than a decade struggling to make sustained progress. It finally recovered that level in 2003, leaving investors who bought near the earlier peak waiting roughly 11 years for the benchmark to regain its previous ground.
The episode is a reminder that even a market with long-term growth potential can leave investors waiting years for an index to recover from a crash.