Inland transport infrastructure spending as share of GDP in selected countries 2022

As a share of the country’s GDP, China’s average infrastructure spending in 2022 was nearly 10 times higher than that of the United States. Indeed, at 4.8 percent of its GDP, China's investments were significantly higher than anywhere else in the world. By comparison, investments in Central & Eastern Europe - the CEE region - were relatively higher than those in their Western European counterparts.

Infrastructure construction and development

The construction industry plays a significant role in most economies. The reason for that is that public investment into essential infrastructure enables the economy to function properly and be well connected. Without transportation and energy infrastructure, which were the two types of infrastructure with the highest construction spending in the U.S., or telecommunication networks, such as 5G base stations, many industries could not perform their activities.

Infrastructure needs

Despite the importance of infrastructure for the wellbeing of communities, infrastructure investment is sub par in many countries across the world. As of 2020, projected infrastructure spending was estimated to be unable to fulfill spending needs in the United States, where the aging infrastructure is in dire need of repair. Although as seen here, China was the country with the highest investment in infrastructure relative to its GDP, as of 2019, it also has higher projected infrastructure needs than most regions.