Sadly, China’s infrastructure is less impressive when compared with the size of its vast population
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskThis surreal underuse of existing infrastructure notwithstanding, the government’s best hope for reviving the economy is to add more of it. Much more. Spending on transport, water conservation and renovating old neighbourhoods will be a “strong driving force” for the economy, helping to employ China’s 290m migrant workers, said Li Keqiang, the prime minister, in an emergency teleconference with thousands of local officials on May 25th.
If Omicron resurges, recurring lockdowns may prevent China spending its way out of trouble this year. But even if everything goes to plan, a successful stimulus will raise a deeper question.
The question is tricky to answer, because infrastructure in China is hard to measure or even define. The definition used by the National Bureau of Statistics often leaves out areas such as gas and electricity, as well as social sectors like education and health care. Worse, the official investment figures, designed with central planners in mind, are not consistent with modern national accounting.
. For example, it has 120km of motorways per 1m people, compared with 179km in France and 326km in America. And it has 106km of railway per 1m people, compared with 236km in Britain and over 400km in Germany. China’s metro lines are more than 20 times as long as those in France. But China’s population living in cities is also more than 20 times as large. China also has only 4.
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