Intro - Emerging Markets 2023

Our emerging market indexes are built with the aim to help you detect new sources of return in rapidly-growing economies around the world.

MSCI has an extensive history working in emerging markets, helping shape the investment landscape into what it is today. The term “Emerging Markets” was originally coined in 1981 by a World Bank economist and it helped established emerging markets as a distinct investment class. In 1988, MSCI launched the MSCI Emerging Markets Index — one of the first investable benchmark index global equity markets in the space. Today, we have over $1.3 trillion in assets under management benchmarked to our emerging markets indexes1.


Allocating - Emerging Markets 2023

Allocating to emerging markets today

Emerging markets accessibility has changed dramatically since 1988. Over the years, countries have been added and removed from the MSCI Emerging Markets Index based on our market classification framework that assesses economic development, size and liquidity, and market accessibility.


MSCI Emerging markets - Emerging markets 2023

MSCI Emerging Markets Index2

  • 24Countries

  • 10.9%Weight in MSCI ACWI Index

  • 1,379Constituents

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Building tools - Emerging markets 2023

Building tools for the shifting EM playbook

What is EM investing?

  • At MSCI, we approach EM as an asset class for core allocation capable of providing risk diversification to institutional portfolios.
  • EM countries have, on average, a younger workforce with a growing purchasing power which may be able to support ongoing economic growth.
  • Capital market liberalization and improved market accessibility in EM continue to draw investors to those markets.

Sizing Up Opportunity in Emerging Capital Markets (PDF, 1.4 MB) (opens in a new tab)

Emerging markets have been a distinct investment class for some time, but recent performance and geopolitical challenges may have meant that investors now lack exposure to these markets. In this piece, we revisit the fundamentals and re-acquaint investors with the asset class.

MSCI has witnessed the decades-long evolution of EM as an asset class. As the landscape has transformed, we have worked to identify what indexes may help investors capture new market fundamentals and to better understand how geopolitical shifts, such as China’s growing economic power, may impact global portfolios.

We create indexes that are designed to adapt to the dynamic nature of the emerging markets opportunity set and its growing market capitalization. Over time we have expanded our emerging markets index range to cover multiple of investment themes, across ESG, Climate, Factors and Thematic topics.


Interactive Assets

MSCI Emerging Markets Index

Emerging Markets Countries



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      Contact us - Emerging markets 2023

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      Spotlight & Featured content - Emerging markets 2023

      Spotlight on Emerging Markets research

      The Future of Emerging Markets

      The partial inclusion of Chinese A shares is likely to transform equity EM and its role in global portfolios.


      Targeting Focused Exposures - Emerging Markets 2023

      Targeting Focused Exposures


      Targeting focus - Emerging markets 2023

      India: An emerging world market story

      New Kids on the Bloc: Opportunities in Emerging Markets

      The Integration of China Onshore and Offshore Equities

      The Impact of China’s Reopening

      An evolving - Emerging Markets 2023

      An Evolving Ecosystem


      Evolving Ecosystem - Emerging markets 2023

      The Futures of Emerging Markets in Asia

      The Futures of Emerging Markets Decoupled

      Long Story Cut Short in Regional Equity Futures Positioning

      Asset allocation title - Emerging Markets 2023

      Asset Allocation in Emerging Markets


      Asset Allocation - Emerging Markets 2023

      European Equities: A Door to China’s Reopening?

      Regional Blocs: Emerging to Diverging Markets

      How Could China’s Reopening Impact Global Stocks?

      India's Leap into Lunar Exploration and the Global Economy

      India Equity Futures for the World

      PDF, 7.1 MB
      The Third Energy Revolution and China’s Electric Vehicle Industry

      Learn more - Emerging Markets 2023

      Emerging Markets video series

      Established as Core

      The MSCI EM Index’s weight in the MSCI ACWI index rose from 0.9% in January 1988 to 12% in June 2020. EM continued to be characterized by its exposure to unique growth opportunities, significant dispersion of country performances, as well as the historical factor/ESG premium.

      Characterized by Dynamism

      EM’s growing economic size and technological significance are among the biggest forces shaping the global economic landscape. Understanding EM dynamism, specifically when it comes to A shares inclusion, and the configuration and implementation of China in equity portfolios, is critical to understanding the global opportunity set.

      Built to Last

      The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is designed to dynamically reflect the evolution of the EM opportunity set and meet investors’ global and regional asset allocation needs.


      Related content - Emerging markets 2023

      Footnotes - Emerging Markets 2023

      1 Source: MSCI, as at December 31, 2022
      2 Source: MSCI, as at March 2023