Building and infrastructure: $ 36 trillion of global GDP

Arcadis, an engineering firm in construction and land-use planning, has just released its latest global survey of revenues from constructed assets. Building and infrastructure contribute to global GDP of $ 36 trillion.

This report, entitled "2016 Global Built Asset Performance Index", analyzes the revenues generated by buildings, infrastructure and other fixed assets (housing, schools, roads, airports, power stations, shopping malls, rail networks, ports, etc.) 36 countries jointly representing 78% of world GDP. It classifies countries according to the incomes generated by their construction sectors. China is therefore the country that benefits most from its assets built with $ 10.4 trillion, followed by the United States, India and Japan.

France ranks 10th in the world ranking, with $ 794 billion generated from its built assets. In Europe, she is in third place, outstripped by Germany (1 trillion dollars) and Turkey (807 billion dollars). In France, the report considers that the market remains limited due to lack of sufficient investments. In the area of housing, for example, France needs 500,000 dwellings each year to meet the demand and less than 350,000 dwellings were built in 2015. Some infrastructure (railway stations, airports, railways, ports, etc.) also need to be upgraded or expanded. The same goes for a large part of schools or hospitals.

In Europe, only three European countries rank in the top 10 of the report. Only the Netherlands and Sweden reach the Top 10, respectively 9th and 10th in the world. "Europe must generate higher economic returns of its existing assets. Investors, asset managers, asset operators and legislators must explore new ways to improve asset productivity. New technologies and stronger investments in built assets such as housing, schools, offices, railways, river networks, roads and bridges are essential to improve the efficiency of the economy of the Old Continent, " declared Julien Cayet, Global Business Advisory Leader at Arcadis.

In 2016, 40% of global GDP will come from the built environment (buildings and infrastructure), up from 39% in 2014 - an increase of $ 3 trillion over two years.