Publication: Reducing Poverty by Closing South Asia's Infrastructure Gap
Date
2013-12
ISSN
Published
2013-12
Author(s)
Abstract
Despite recent rapid growth and poverty
reduction, the South Asia Region (SAR) continues to suffer
from a combination of insufficient economic growth, slow
urbanization, and huge infrastructure gaps that together
could jeopardize future progress. It is also home to the
largest pool of individuals living under the poverty line of
any region, coupled with some of the fastest demographic
growth rates of any region. Between 1990 and 2010, the
number of people living on less than US$1.25 a day in South
Asia decreased by only 18 percent, while the population grew
by 42 percent. If South Asia hopes to meet its development
goals and not risk slowing down, or even halting, growth and
poverty alleviation, it is essential to make closing its
huge infrastructure gap a priority. But the challenges on
this front are monumental. Many people living in SAR remain
unconnected to a reliable electrical grid, a safe water
supply, sanitary sewerage disposal, and sound roads and
transportation networks. This region requires significant
infrastructure investment (roads, rails, power, water
supply, sanitation, and telecommunications) not only to
ensure basic service delivery and enhance the quality of
life of its growing population, but also to avoid a possible
binding constraint on economic growth owing to the
substantial infrastructure gap.
Citation
“Andrés, Luis; Biller, Dan; Herrera Dappe, Matías. 2013. Reducing Poverty by Closing South Asia's Infrastructure Gap. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/17847 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”