Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS)
BRICS is an acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Although the term did not come into use until 2001, the BRIC concept had been proposed as early as 1994, when Goldman Sachs recognized the growing economic potential of Brazil, Russia, India, and China and coined the term "BRIC" in its Global Economics Paper No. 66, "Building Better Global Economic BRICs".The BRICS countries are important to the global economy for many reasons. Together, they account for over 40% of the world's population and around 25% of global GDP. The BRICS economies are also growing rapidly; in fact, they have been some of the fastest-growing economies in the world in recent years. This growth is expected to continue, which is good news for the global economy.The BRICS countries are also important because they represent a new type of economic power bloc. Unlike traditional economic blocs such as NATO or NAFTA, which are dominated by Western countries, the BRICS countries come from different regions of the world and have different cultures and religions. This diversity makes them more resilient to shocks than traditional blocs, and it also gives them a lot of potential for future growth.Finally, the BRICS countries play an important role in promoting global development goals such as poverty reduction and financial inclusion. They have pledged to work together to achieve these goals, and their cooperation will be critical if we want to see real progress on these issues.The countries considered to be BRIC members are all large, fast-growing economies with a significant emerging market presence in the world economy and are expected to be among the four largest economies of the world in the 21st century. The original four BRIC countries represent over 3.6 billion people (40% of the world population) and have a combined nominal GDP of US$18.4 trillion.In 2017, their combined economies are projected to grow by 4.6%, a rate that is predicted to outpace that of the advanced economies of the U.S., E.U., Japan, Canada and Australia by at least 30%. BRIC GDP was almost $15 trillion in 2015. By 2027, the four countries are expected to grow by a further 5% (in PPP terms), thus reaching US$18.6 trillion, or more than 25% of projected global GDP.
