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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, EEM returned +16.3% and VWO +4.8%.

Which is cheaper, EEM or VWO?

VWO is cheaper, by 0.66 percentage points a year. That is about $66 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

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

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

EEM vs VWO: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, EEM returned +16.3% to VWO's +4.8%; 60% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets: $29.1bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF, and $125.4bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF.

EEM on its own →VWO on its own →

At a glance

+16.3%

EEM total return, 1 year

+4.8%

VWO total return, 1 year

0.72%

EEM expense ratio

0.06%

VWO expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VWO costs 0.66 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 11.5 points; VWO is 4.0 times larger.

EEM vs VWO: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	EEM	VWO
Return
Measure	EEM	VWO
Total return, 1 year	+16.3%	+4.8%
Drawdown
Measure	EEM	VWO
Below its high	10.8%, high on Jun 22, 2026	7.0%, high on Sep 4, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	EEM	VWO
What it tracks	MSCI Emerging Markets Index	FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China A Inclusion Index
Cost and size
Measure	EEM	VWO
Expense ratio	0.72%	0.06%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$31.1bn	$125.4bn
Holdings
Measure	EEM	VWO
Holdings in common	60%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	37.2%	29.8%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method

Risk and return

Mar 18, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,127 weekly returns

EEM VWO

Return

Total return edge Tie +307.4% +309.0%

Annualized edge Tie +6.7% +6.7%

Price return edge EEM +166.2% +133.1%

Risk

Volatility edge VWO (slight) 23.5% 22.3%

Max drawdown edge Tie −62.6% −63.8%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge Tie 0.32 0.32

Sortino edge Tie 0.45 0.46

Calmar edge Tie 0.11 0.11

Reading

EEM and VWO returned about the same: +307.4% and +309.0%. VWO swung slightly less: 22.3% to 23.5%. EEM and VWO fell about the same at their worst: −62.6% and −63.8%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: EEM vs VWO: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	EEM	VWO	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+307.4%	+309.0%	Tie	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+6.7%	+6.7%	Tie	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+166.2%	+133.1%	EEM	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	23.5%	22.3%	VWO (slight)	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	16.4%	15.8%	VWO (slight)	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−62.6%	−63.8%	Tie	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.32	0.32	Tie	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.45	0.46	Tie	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.11	0.11	Tie	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,127 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

What they share

60%

By the books each fund has filed, EEM and VWO hold 60% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

60% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first EEM VWO

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING 15.98% 15.76%

TENCENT HOLDINGS 2.64% 2.82%

ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING 1.82% 2.11%

MEDIATEK 1.54% 1.88%

HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY 0.82% 0.80%

DELTA ELECTRONICS 0.79% 0.95%

HDFC BANK 0.72% 0.70%

RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LTD 0.63% 0.69%

ICICI BANK 0.68% 0.60%

ASE TECHNOLOGY HOLDING 0.59% 0.61%

BHARTI AIRTEL LTD 0.51% 0.47%

XIAOMI 0.49% 0.46%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in EEM

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS LTD 6.88%

SK HYNIX 4.91%

CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK CORP H 0.94%

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS NON VOTING PRE 0.91%

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF 0.55%

SK SQUARE 0.51%

BANK OF CHINA LTD H 0.45%

SAMSUNG ELECTRO MECHANICS LTD 0.45%

Only in VWO

SLCMT1142 2.96%

MKTLIQ 0.95%

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd 0.65%

Vale SA 0.40%

United Microelectronics Corp 0.39%

PETROBRAS - PETROLEO BRAS-PR 0.35%

ITAU UNIBANCO HOLDING S-PREF 0.34%

Grupo Mexico SAB de CV 0.29%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

EEM iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF VWO Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Vanguard

What it is Tracks an index of Emerging markets Tracks an index of Emerging markets

Total return, 1 year +16.3% +4.8%

Expense ratio 0.72% 0.06%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 1186 6515

Net assets, EEM as of Oct 27, 2026 and VWO as of Sep 30, 2026 $29.1bn $125.4bn

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

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-28334D07B0

EEM and VWO are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?

What each follows. EEM follows MSCI Emerging Markets Index and VWO follows FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China A Inclusion Index.
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 EEM returned +16.3% and VWO +4.8% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 11.5 points.
Number of holdings. EEM holds 1,186 positions and VWO holds 6515.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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About each fund

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.

VWO

VWO tracks an index of Emerging markets. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +4.8% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.06% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 6,515 positions, with the top ten at 29.8%. It sat 7.0% below its high of Sep 4, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, EEM or VWO?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, EEM returned +16.3% and VWO +4.8%.
Which is cheaper, EEM or VWO?: VWO is cheaper, by 0.66 percentage points a year. That is about $66 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do EEM and VWO overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of EEM and 0% of VWO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

EEM vs IEMG DEM vs EEM EEM vs EEMV CGNG vs EEM AVEM vs VWO EMXC vs VWO SPEM vs VWO SCHE vs VWO

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

EEM filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

EEM prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for EEM ↗

VWO filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

VWO prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for VWO ↗

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

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