Developed Markets Indexes

Developed markets are a cornerstone of global investing. They have more advanced economies and more mature capital markets. As investors move away from their home markets, developed markets potentially provide greater stability, transparency and liquidity, serving as an ideal opportunity set for constructing diversified portfolios.

Target benefits
Measuring established capital markets

Harness evolving opportunity set

Indexes seek to reflect changing markets across regions, market-cap segments, sectors and styles.

Construct diversified global portfolios

Use to measure performance of equity markets across developed market countries.

Customize with ease

Select from a range of global, regional, country, sector and style indexes to better capture your investment strategy.

MSCI World Index
Widely recognized index, launched in 1986, measuring performance of equity markets across developed market countries

23

Countries

90%

Weight in MSCI ACWI Index

1,479

Constituents1

Evolution of regional weights within MSCI World

While the MSCI World Index country composition has remained fairly stable over time, regional and country weights have evolved with global markets. Japan dominated in the late 1980s, while Europe rose in the early 2000s. U.S., representing nearly 70% of the index, currently holds the largest share.

How are global equity mandates evolving?

Our research suggests that global equity mandates, often complemented by dedicated emerging market and small-cap specialist mandates, may emerge as the “new classic” structure for implementing global equity allocations.2 Investors may consider active and passive management as complementary strategies across these distinct equity segments.

 

Investors seeking greater home-market exposure can manage separate domestic portfolios alongside the global equity structure or explore a core-satellite structure where the active-passive split extends to each equity market segment to implement the global equity allocation.

Related to Developed Markets Indexes

Emerging Markets Indexes

Explore indexes built with the aim of helping you measure return in rapidly growing economies around the world.

Clear, turquoise ocean water leading to the topic of MSCI climate and net-zero solutions.

¹ As of February 2024

2 https://www.msci.com/documents/10199/4f05c23b-26b6-b3bd-e075-8ba20e763c2c