What is an index for?

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index aims to reflect the performance of large and mid-cap stocks across 24 emerging countries. The index includes 1,196 stocks and covers around 85% of the free-float-adjusted market capitalization in each country.

It belongs to the family of market-cap-weighted indices. In other words, the larger a company's market value, the greater its weight in the index. Unlike factor-based approaches (Value, Quality, Minimum Volatility...), it does not seek to select securities based on specific fundamental criteria: it replicates the emerging market as a whole.

The universe notably includes China, Taiwan, South Korea, India, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. The index is therefore the main reference for gaining exposure to emerging-market equities in a single line.

Technical characteristics

The index was launched on January 1, 2001. Earlier data are reconstructed through backtesting.

As of January 30, 2026, it therefore had 1,196 constituents with a total market capitalization of $11,128.7bn. The largest stock stands at $1,390bn (this is TSMC), the smallest at $200.7m. Median market capitalization comes in at $3.26bn.

The index is calculated here in US dollars (USD) and in Net Return (NR) version, i.e., dividends reinvested after withholding tax.

On valuation, the fundamental data show:

  • a dividend yield of 2.12%;
  • a P/E of 18.32;
  • a forward P/E of 13.59;
  • a price-to-book (P/B) ratio of 2.34.

In terms of risk, annualized volatility stands at 13.77% over three years and 15.83% over five years, with a historical maximum drawdown of 65.25% between October 2007 and October 2008.

Top holdings and geographic and sector exposure

The index is dominated by a handful of very large Asian technology stocks. The top ten holdings represent 32.44% of the total.

As of January 30, 2026, the ten largest positions are:

The sector breakdown confirms technology's weight. Information technology represents 30.34% of the index, ahead of financials (21.5%) and consumer discretionary (11.22%). Communication services account for 8.81% and materials for 7.33% (page 2).

Geographically, China leads with 26.58% of the index, followed by Taiwan (21.04%), South Korea (15.65%) and India (13.34%). Brazil represents 4.63%, with the remaining countries at 18.75%. List of countries covered: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates.

Short- and medium-term performance

2025 marked a clear rebound. The index gained 33.57%, versus 22.34% for the MSCI ACWI and 21.09% for the MSCI World.

As of January 30, 2026, annualized returns stand at:

  • +42.84% over one year;
  • +16.74% per year over three years;
  • +5.34% per year over five years;
  • +10.08% per year over ten years;
  • +8.82% per year since December 29, 2000.

These figures are a reminder that emerging markets can go through pronounced cycles, with phases of strong outperformance, but also periods of more pronounced volatility than developed markets.

A few ETFs linked to the index or to neighboring indices:

  • iShares Core MSCI EM IMI UCITS ETF (underlying MSCI Emerging Markets IMI Net Total Return Index - USD): the largest emerging-markets ETF listed in Europe. Highly liquid with assets of more than €30bn, it charges a 0.18% fee. The term IMI means the ETF also includes small caps.
  • Xtrackers MSCI Emerging Markets UCITS ETF 1C USD (underlying MSCI Emerging Markets Net Total Return Index - USD): the iShares counterpart, and also a heavyweight (€10bn in assets). Unlike the previous one, it is exposed to large and mid-caps. Fees are also 0.18%.
  • iShares MSCI EM Asia UCITS ETF USD (underlying MSCI Daily Net Total Return Emerging Markets Asia Index - USD): a variant of the first two, still very liquid (€6.2bn in assets), for slightly higher fees (0.20%). The ETF is limited to Asia, with eight countries, and excludes other "emerging” markets.
  • UBS Core MSCI EM UCITS A-ACC USD (underlying MSCI Emerging Markets Net Total Return Index - USD): exposed to the same index as Xtrackers, this is a challenger with an entry ticket of 0.15%, slightly lower than the three ETFs mentioned above. Its assets are also very high (€5.26bn).
  • Amundi Core MSCI Emerging markets Swap UCITS ETF DIST - USD (underlying MSCI Emerging Markets Net Total Return Index - USD): this ETF offers synthetic replication, but it posts fees that are marginally lower than the previous ones (0.14%). It is distributing, unlike the others.