Which returned more over the last year, ACWI or EEM?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +13.4% and EEM +16.3%.

Which is cheaper, ACWI or EEM?

ACWI is cheaper, by 0.40 percentage points a year. That is about $40 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do ACWI and EEM overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 61% of ACWI and 0% of EEM by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

ACWI vs EEM: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, ACWI returned +13.4% to EEM's +16.3%; 10% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets: $33.0bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI ACWI ETF, and $29.1bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF.

ACWI on its own →EEM on its own →

At a glance

+13.4%

ACWI total return, 1 year

+16.3%

EEM total return, 1 year

0.32%

ACWI expense ratio

0.72%

EEM expense ratio

Pair scorecard

ACWI costs 0.40 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.9 points; ACWI is 1.1 times larger.

ACWI vs EEM: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	ACWI	EEM
Return
Measure	ACWI	EEM
Total return, 1 year	+13.4%	+16.3%
Drawdown
Measure	ACWI	EEM
Below its high		10.8%, high on Jun 22, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	ACWI	EEM
What it tracks	MSCI ACWI	MSCI Emerging Markets Index
Cost and size
Measure	ACWI	EEM
Expense ratio	0.32%	0.72%
Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026	$32.6bn	$28.7bn
Holdings
Measure	ACWI	EEM
Holdings in common	10%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	24.9%	37.2%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method

Risk and return

Apr 4, 2008 to Oct 23, 2026 · 968 weekly returns

ACWI EEM

Return

Total return edge ACWI +333.1% +94.8%

Annualized edge ACWI +8.2% +3.6%

Price return edge ACWI +204.7% +32.2%

Risk

Volatility edge ACWI 18.5% 23.4%

Max drawdown edge ACWI (slight) −55.3% −61.2%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge ACWI 0.44 0.21

Sortino edge ACWI 0.62 0.30

Calmar edge ACWI 0.15 0.06

Reading

ACWI returned more: +333.1% to +94.8%. ACWI swung less: 18.5% to 23.4%. ACWI fell slightly less at its worst: −55.3% to −61.2%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: ACWI vs EEM: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	ACWI	EEM	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+333.1%	+94.8%	ACWI	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+8.2%	+3.6%	ACWI	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+204.7%	+32.2%	ACWI	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	18.5%	23.4%	ACWI	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	13.2%	16.4%	ACWI	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−55.3%	−61.2%	ACWI (slight)	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.44	0.21	ACWI	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.62	0.30	ACWI	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.15	0.06	ACWI	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 968 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

What they share

10%

By the books each fund has filed, ACWI and EEM hold 10% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

10% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first ACWI EEM

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING 1.77% 15.98%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS LTD 0.76% 6.88%

SK HYNIX 0.55% 4.91%

TENCENT HOLDINGS 0.29% 2.64%

ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING 0.20% 1.82%

MEDIATEK 0.17% 1.54%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS NON VOTING PRE 0.11% 0.91%

CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK CORP H 0.10% 0.94%

DELTA ELECTRONICS 0.09% 0.79%

HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY 0.09% 0.82%

HDFC BANK 0.08% 0.72%

ICICI BANK 0.07% 0.68%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in ACWI

APPLE 4.97%

NVIDIA 4.89%

MICROSOFT 3.66%

AMAZON.COM INC 2.39%

ALPHABET CLASS A 1.83%

BROADCOM INC 1.51%

ALPHABET CLASS C 1.44%

META PLATFORMS CLASS A 1.33%

Only in EEM

GRUPO CIBEST SA 0.06%

ITAU UNIBANCO HOLDING SA 0.04%

KASIKORNBANK PUBLIC NON-VOTING DR 0.04%

KRUNG THAI BANK PUBLIC NON-VOTING 0.04%

BUMRUNGRAD HOSPITAL NON-VOTING DR 0.03%

PROMOTORA Y OPERADORA DE INFRAESTR 0.03%

QATAR INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC BANK 0.03%

SCB X PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED NON-V 0.03%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

ACWI iShares MSCI ACWI ETF EEM iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares iShares

What it is Tracks the MSCI ACWI Tracks an index of Emerging markets

Total return, 1 year +13.4% +16.3%

Expense ratio 0.32% 0.72%

Already in the S&P 500 60.9% 0.0%

Holdings 2197 1186

Net assets, ACWI as of Oct 28, 2026 and EEM as of Oct 27, 2026 $33.0bn $29.1bn

ACWI and EEM on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-341F193D0C

ACWI and EEM do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?

What each follows. ACWI follows MSCI ACWI and EEM follows MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
Holdings in common. 10% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 ACWI returned +13.4% and EEM +16.3% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 2.9 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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About each fund

ACWI

ACWI tracks the MSCI ACWI. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.4% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.32% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 61% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,197 positions, with the top ten at 24.9%.

EEM

EEM tracks an index of Emerging markets. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +16.3% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.72% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 1,186 positions, with the top ten at 37.2%. It sat 10.8% below its high of Jun 22, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, ACWI or EEM?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +13.4% and EEM +16.3%.
Which is cheaper, ACWI or EEM?: ACWI is cheaper, by 0.40 percentage points a year. That is about $40 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do ACWI and EEM overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 61% of ACWI and 0% of EEM by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

ACWI vs AVEM ACWI vs EMXC ACWI vs VWO ACWI vs IEMG EEM vs VT EEM vs URTH EEM vs IDEV EEM vs VGK

Where to next

ACWI on its own →EEM on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →ACWI dividend history →ACWI holdings →EEM dividend history →EEM holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

ACWI filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

ACWI prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for ACWI ↗

EEM filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

EEM prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for EEM ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.

How this is computed

Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, ACWI against EEM, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/acwi-vs-eem

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Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.