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

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFEM returned +26.1% and IEMG +25.3%.

Which is cheaper, DFEM or IEMG?

IEMG is cheaper, by 0.30 percentage points a year. That is about $30 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

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

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DFEM vs IEMG: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFEM and IEMG hold 54% of their weight in the same names, and DFEM returned +26.1% over the year. Net assets: $9.0bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF, and $160.2bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF.

IEMG costs 0.30 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.8 points; IEMG is 17.0 times larger.

	DFEM	IEMG
Expense ratio	0.39%	0.09%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$9.0bn	$152.2bn
Total return, 1 year	+26.1%	+25.3%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index (IMI)
Holdings in common	54%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	24.3%	34.2%
Below its high	4.3%, high on Jun 22, 2026	5.3%, high on Jun 22, 2026

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 8, 2026.

+26.1%

DFEM total return, 1 year

+25.3%

IEMG total return, 1 year

0.39%

DFEM expense ratio

0.09%

IEMG expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFEM and IEMG hold 54% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 8, 2026.

50%

half

54% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFEM IEMG

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 10.26% 14.10%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 4.40% 6.56%

SK hynix Inc. 4.25% 4.97%

Tencent Holdings Limited 1.95% 2.31%

Alibaba Group Holding Limited 0.82% 1.59%

HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD. 0.46% 0.68%

ICICI BANK LIMITED 0.45% 0.52%

MediaTek Inc. 0.41% 1.52%

HDFC BANK LIMITED 0.41% 0.59%

UNIMICRON TECHNOLOGY CORP. 0.39% 0.38%

BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED 0.37% 0.37%

SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS CO.,LTD 0.37% 0.46%

Only in DFEM

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 0.42%

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF CHINA LIMITED 0.35%

VALE S.A. 0.33%

Kinsus Interconnect Technology Corp 0.29%

AL RAJHI BANKING AND INVESTMENT CORPORATION SJSC 0.25%

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) 0.20%

ORLEN SPOLKA AKCYJNA 0.20%

United Microelectronics Corporation 0.20%

Only in IEMG

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS NON VOTING PRE 0.83%

CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK CORP H 0.74%

SK SQUARE 0.52%

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF 0.45%

ITAU UNIBANCO HOLDING PREF SA 0.38%

BANK OF CHINA LTD H 0.37%

UNITED MICRO ELECTRONICS CORP 0.37%

PETROLEO BRASILEIRO PREF SA 0.36%

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On the same fields

DFEM

Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF

IEMG

iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional iShares

What it is Actively managed Tracks the MSCI Emerging Markets

Total return, 1 year +26.1% +25.3%

S&P 500 over the same days +17.3% +17.3%

Gap to the S&P 500 +8.9 pts +8.1 pts

Expense ratio 0.39% 0.09%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 6672 2871

Net assets, DFEM as of Jul 31, 2026 and IEMG as of Oct 9, 2026 $9.0bn $160.2bn

DFEM and IEMG on the fields both publish, as of Oct 9, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

DFEM in plain words

DFEM is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +26.1% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.39% a year. By its holdings filed for Jul 31, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 6,672 positions, with the top ten at 24.3%. It sat 4.3% below its high of Jun 22, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

IEMG in plain words

IEMG tracks the MSCI Emerging Markets. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +25.3% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 8, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,871 positions, with the top ten at 34.2%. It sat 5.3% below its high of Jun 22, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFEM or IEMG?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFEM returned +26.1% and IEMG +25.3%.
Which is cheaper, DFEM or IEMG?: IEMG is cheaper, by 0.30 percentage points a year. That is about $30 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFEM and IEMG overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFEM and 0% of IEMG by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFEM vs VWO DFEM vs EEM CGNG vs DFEM DFEM vs XSOE IEMG vs JEMA DVYE vs IEMG EDIV vs IEMG IEMG vs JHEM

DFEM on its own →IEMG on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

DFEM filings on SEC EDGAR ↗DFEM prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗Dimensional website ↗IEMG filings on SEC EDGAR ↗IEMG prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗iShares page for IEMG ↗

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. 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, DFEM against IEMG, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfem-vs-iemg

Open data

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