The acronym BRIC first appeared in a 2001 Goldman Sachs economic report that identified four fast-growing emerging economies as the main drivers of future global economic growth: Brazil, Russia, India and China. The paper predicted that the GDP of the four countries, particularly China’s, would grow significantly over the next decade compared to the rest of the world (O’neill 2001). In a 2003 paper, Goldman Sachs predicted that the BRIC countries could overtake the largest Western economies by 2039 (Wilson and Purushothaman 2003). This forecast appeared to come true over time as India's economy grew at an average rate of 6.89 percent per year from 2000 to 2009, and China's economy grew at an annual average rate of 10.35 percent during the same period (Goldman Sachs 2024). 

The leaders of the BRIC group (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) met for the first time during the G8 Summit in July 2006 in St. Petersburg, Russia (BRICS 2023a). The first BRIC summit was held on 16 June 2009 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, after a series of high-level meetings

(BRICS 2023a). In September 2010, South Africa joined the informal group, which was renamed as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS 2023a)). BRICS planned to expand at the beginning of 2024 and has invited six states to join the group: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It is currently assumed that on January 1, 2024, with the exception of Argentina (Mondino 2023), all invited states joined the BRICS framework[1]. The expanded group is commonly referred to as BRICS+

(BRICS 2024).

In 2022, the BRICS countries represented almost 41% of the world population, more than 25% of global GDP and were responsible for almost 18% of exported goods and services worldwide (The World Bank 2022). In the same year, BRICS+ represented 45% of the world population, 28% of global GDP and was responsible for at least 20%[2] of exported goods and services worldwide (The World Bank 2022). An average of 16% of merchandise exports from BRICS countries came from fuels in 2021, while in the BRICS+ countries, an average of around 31% of merchandise exports could be attributed to fuels, twice as much as in the BRICS countries alone (The World Bank 2021). According to the group, BRICS+ currently accounts for over 40% of global crude oil supply (BRICS 2024).

As one of their core values, the BRICS countries declare “a shared commitment to restructuring the global political, economic and financial architecture so that it is fair, balanced and representative and rests on the important pillars of multilateralism and international law (BRICS 2023).” The extent to which they might succeed in achieving these goals remains to be assessed. Studying such informal, transnational groups is important in order to anticipate their impact on global politics over the next ten to twenty years. The EU recognized this as early as 2012 and prepared a report with goals and strategies to deal with BRICS and other emerging countries (European Parliament 2012). With the planned expansion of BRICS to BRICS+ in January 2024, media attention around the group increased. A postulate was thus submitted to the Swiss Federal Council to report on the influence of the BRICS states on the world order in the next few years and to develop a strategy to deal with them (The Swiss Parliament 2023). It is therefore also important for Switzerland to evaluate the opportunities and risks in this context. As the statistics show (see above), the BRICS+ countries have the potential to influence the international world order. A wide range of impacts are conceivable not exclusively in the economic sector, but also in the following areas: technology, finance and monetary systems, politics and international governance, armed forces and security policy, norms and values, culture and society. In addition, the BRICS+ countries have strong ties with and influence over other emerging economies. As they are expected to become increasingly influential, this threatens Western dominance.

[1] According to media reports, there is still no complete certainty regarding Saudi Arabia’s accession.

[2] There is no Data about the United Arab Emirates available for 2022 in the data set used.

BRICS (2023): Evolution of BRICS. (https://brics2023.gov.za/evolution-of-brics/  [30.01.2024]).  

European Parliament (2012): European Parliament resolution of 2 February 2012 on the EU foreign policy towards the BRICS and other emerging powers: objectives and strategies (2011/2111(INI)). European Parliament, 1-11.  

Goldman Sachs (2024): With GS Research Report, “BRICs” Are Born. (https://www.goldmansachs.com/our-firm/history/moments/2001-brics.html  [29.02.2024]).

Mondino, Diana (2023): No ingresaremos a los BRICS. ( https://twitter.com/DianaMondino/status/1730266734500966512 ([30.01.2024]).  

O'neill, Jim (2001): Building better global economic BRICs. Goldman Sachs 66, 1-16.

Papa, Mihaela, Han, Zen and O’Donnell. Frank (2023): The Dynamics of Informal Institutions and Counter-Hegemony: Introducing a BRICS Convergence Index. European journal of international relations 29(4), 960-989.  

The Swiss Parliament (2023): Bericht des Bundesrates zu den Brics-Staaten. (https://www.parlament.ch/de/ratsbetrieb/suche-curia-vista/geschaeft?AffairId=20233970 [30.01.2024]).  

The World Bank (2021): World Development Indicators. (https://wdi.worldbank.org/tables [30.01.2024]).  

The World Bank (2022): World Development Indicators. (https://wdi.worldbank.org/tables [30.01.2024]).   

Wilson, Dominic, and Purushothaman, Roopa (2003): Dreaming with BRICs: The path to 2050. Global economics paper 99, 1-24.