Addressing Social Infrastructure Needs in Asia: Towards a Pandemic Resilient Society

  • #Books and Reports

Addressing Social Infrastructure Needs in Asia: Towards a Pandemic Resilient Society

Social infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals, and public housing, is an essential element in the formation and support of human capital, people’s well-being, and sustainable economic development. In order to efficiently develop this infrastructure and maintain service levels, a certain amount of investment is required over a long period of time. In addition,the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020 highlighted the need to strengthen the medical system, including medical infrastructure, and the necessity to redesign social infrastructure so that it can be measured against the background of accelerating digitization.

So, how much investment in social infrastructure is needed? This report is the first attempt to answer this question. After confirming the characteristics of social infrastructure that differ from those of economic infrastructure, the research group has estimated the current level of expenditure and the future demand up to 2030 for social infrastructure in the Asian region and examined the gap between the two. In doing so, they present two sets of figures: baseline estimates using data gathered before the outbreak of COVID-19, and pandemic resilience estimates including the additional investments needed to ensure the resilience of social infrastructure to a future pandemic of comparative magnitude to COVID-19. Finally, the report makes recommendations to fill the identified investment gaps.

Editors
HIROTA Koki, Teguh Dartanto, ISHIZUKA Fumiaki
Date of issuance
August 2025
Publisher
JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development
Language
English
Number of pages
174
Related areas
  • #Asia
Topics
  • #Education
  • #Economic Policy
  • #Health
  • #infrastructure
Research area
Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction
ISBN
978-4-86357-117-4
Research project

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