ABSTRACT
The need for international statistics on construction is compelling and important. Policy makers, construction companies, developers and investors need numerical information on construction before decisions can be taken. Apart from qualitative information, statistics and numerical data can form a rational basis for sound decision making. Buildings can survive, with maintenance, for up to several hundred years or more. The impact of infrastructure investment can also last for hundreds of years. Since the 1980s, several authors have attempted to raise the issue of international construction measures, including Drewer, Bon, Ruddock and Lopes, Meikle and Gruneberg. All these authors have taken one or other aspect of construction and attempted to compare results from an international point of view. Construction demand is derived from investment demand, which in turn is derived from expectations about future needs. Investment may be divided into replacement investment and net investment.
