Infrastructure needs - regional forecast 2017-2035

China was predicted to need the most investments in infrastructure of any country or region between 2017 and 2035, amounting to over 23.6 trillion U.S. dollars. In total, around 63 percent of needed infrastructure over that period was in emerging markets.

Types of infrastructure investment

Infrastructure investment, in the context of this statistic, refers to networked economic infrastructure, consisting of transport, water, power and telecommunications systems. Over the same period from 2017 and 2035, power infrastructure was the largest need, followed by road infrastructure. As of 2018, there were more major energy infrastructure projects underway than road projects.

Investment shortfall

It is predicted that between 2017 and 2035 actual infrastructure investment will fall below global needs by 5.5 trillion U.S. dollars. This is not a new phenomenon. Looking at the United States, it was estimated that infrastructure investment from 2010 to 2020 was almost 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars lower than needed, with surface transportation being the most underfunded area. Looking ahead, between 2016 and 2025, a similar shortfall of around 1.2 trillion dollars is expected, with surface transportation again being the most underfunded. Despite these ongoing shortfalls, a 2018 survey found that only 29 percent of civil infrastructure professionals believed rebuilding critical infrastructure as a major infrastructure trend in the coming five years.