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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +13.4% and IEMG +15.3%.

Which is cheaper, ACWI or IEMG?

IEMG is cheaper, by 0.23 percentage points a year. That is about $23 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

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

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

ACWI vs IEMG: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, ACWI returned +13.4% to IEMG's +15.3%; 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 $150.4bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF.

ACWI on its own →IEMG on its own →

At a glance

+13.4%

ACWI total return, 1 year

+15.3%

IEMG total return, 1 year

0.32%

ACWI expense ratio

0.09%

IEMG expense ratio

Pair scorecard

IEMG costs 0.23 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.9 points; IEMG is 4.5 times larger.

ACWI vs IEMG: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	ACWI	IEMG
Return
Measure	ACWI	IEMG
Total return, 1 year	+13.4%	+15.3%
Drawdown
Measure	ACWI	IEMG
Below its high		10.1%, high on Jun 22, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	ACWI	IEMG
What it tracks	MSCI ACWI	MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index (IMI)
Cost and size
Measure	ACWI	IEMG
Expense ratio	0.32%	0.09%
Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026	$32.6bn	$148.2bn
Holdings
Measure	ACWI	IEMG
Holdings in common	10%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	24.9%	32.7%

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

Risk and return

Nov 2, 2012 to Oct 23, 2026 · 729 weekly returns

ACWI IEMG

Return

Total return edge ACWI +342.4% +120.7%

Annualized edge ACWI +11.2% +5.8%

Price return edge ACWI +235.9% +56.0%

Risk

Volatility edge ACWI 15.4% 18.2%

Max drawdown edge ACWI −32.1% −37.1%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge ACWI 0.65 0.30

Sortino edge ACWI 0.93 0.42

Calmar edge ACWI 0.35 0.16

Reading

ACWI returned more: +342.4% to +120.7%. ACWI swung less: 15.4% to 18.2%. ACWI fell less at its worst: −32.1% to −37.1%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: ACWI vs IEMG: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	ACWI	IEMG	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+342.4%	+120.7%	ACWI	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+11.2%	+5.8%	ACWI	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+235.9%	+56.0%	ACWI	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	15.4%	18.2%	ACWI	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	10.8%	13.0%	ACWI	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−32.1%	−37.1%	ACWI	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.65	0.30	ACWI	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.93	0.42	ACWI	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.35	0.16	ACWI	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 729 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

What they share

10%

By the books each fund has filed, ACWI and IEMG 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 IEMG

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING 1.77% 14.03%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS LTD 0.76% 6.05%

SK HYNIX 0.55% 4.31%

TENCENT HOLDINGS 0.29% 2.32%

ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING 0.20% 1.60%

MEDIATEK 0.17% 1.36%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS NON VOTING PRE 0.11% 0.80%

CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK CORP H 0.10% 0.83%

DELTA ELECTRONICS 0.09% 0.70%

HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY 0.09% 0.72%

HDFC BANK 0.08% 0.63%

ICICI BANK 0.07% 0.60%

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 IEMG

TAIWAN UNION TECHNOLOGY 0.08%

KINSUS INTERCONNECT TECHNOLOGY COR 0.07%

NAN YA PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD CORP 0.07%

POWERCHIP SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTUR 0.06%

SAMSUNG E&A LTD 0.06%

TRIPOD TECHNOLOGY 0.06%

AUO 0.05%

COFORGE 0.05%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

ACWI iShares MSCI ACWI ETF IEMG iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares iShares

What it is Tracks the MSCI ACWI Tracks the MSCI Emerging Markets

Total return, 1 year +13.4% +15.3%

Its benchmark over the same days not measured +16.3% (EEM)

Gap to its benchmark not measured −1.0 pts vs EEM

Expense ratio 0.32% 0.09%

Already in the S&P 500 60.9% 0.0%

Holdings 2197 2857

Net assets, ACWI as of Oct 28, 2026 and IEMG as of Oct 27, 2026 $33.0bn $150.4bn

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

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-9D3A3D5709

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

What each follows. ACWI follows MSCI ACWI and IEMG follows MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index (IMI).
Holdings in common. 10% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
Cost. ACWI charges 0.32% of assets a year and IEMG 0.09%, a gap of 0.23 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%.

IEMG

IEMG tracks the MSCI Emerging Markets. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +15.3% with distributions reinvested, against +16.3% for its benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% 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 2,857 positions, with the top ten at 32.7%. It sat 10.1% below its high of Jun 22, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, ACWI or IEMG?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +13.4% and IEMG +15.3%.
Which is cheaper, ACWI or IEMG?: IEMG is cheaper, by 0.23 percentage points a year. That is about $23 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do ACWI and IEMG overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 61% of ACWI and 0% of IEMG by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

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

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

ACWI filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

ACWI prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for ACWI ↗

IEMG filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

IEMG prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for IEMG ↗

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 IEMG, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/acwi-vs-iemg

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