Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
EWY vs IEMG: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, EWY returned +79.7% to IEMG's +15.3%; 16% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets: $24.4bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI South Korea ETF, and $150.4bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF.
Pair scorecard
IEMG costs 0.50 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 64.4 points; IEMG is 6.6 times larger.
| Measure | EWY | IEMG |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +79.7% | +15.3% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 24.3%, high on Jun 18, 2026 | 10.1%, high on Jun 22, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | MSCI Korea 25/50 Daily 25 Capped Index | MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index (IMI) |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.59% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026 | $22.5bn | $148.2bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 16% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 60.9% | 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 · each against EEMEWY returned more: +234.0% to +120.7%. IEMG swung less: 18.2% to 26.0%. IEMG fell less at its worst: −37.1% to −49.7%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | EWY | IEMG | EEM | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | |||||
| Total return | +234.0% | +120.7% | EWY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. | |
| Annualized | +9.0% | +5.8% | EWY | Total return as a yearly rate. | |
| Price return | +161.4% | +56.0% | EWY | Price change alone, distributions left out. | |
| Risk | |||||
| Volatility | 26.0% | 18.2% | IEMG | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. | |
| Downside deviation | 17.7% | 13.0% | IEMG | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. | |
| Max drawdown | −49.7% | −37.1% | IEMG | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. | |
| Upside capture | 125.8% | 94.6% | 100.0% | EWY | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. |
| Downside capture | 105.0% | 97.1% | 100.0% | IEMG (slight) | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. |
| Beta | 1.15 | 0.96 | 1.00 | IEMG lower | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.69 | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | |||||
| Sharpe | 0.39 | 0.30 | EWY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. | |
| Sortino | 0.57 | 0.42 | EWY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. | |
| Treynor | 0.089 | 0.057 | 0.049 | EWY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. |
| Calmar | 0.18 | 0.16 | EWY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. | |
| Against the benchmark | |||||
| Benchmark | EEM | EEM | EEM | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +4.5% a year | +0.7% a year | 0.0% | IEMG significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 1.16 | 2.17 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. | |
| Alpha range | −3.1% to +12.1% | +0.1% to +1.4% | EWY's includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. | |
| Information ratio | 0.35 | 0.38 | IEMG (slight) | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 14.7% | 1.4% | 0.0% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
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
By the books each fund has filed, EWY and IEMG hold 16% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
16% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
EWY and IEMG on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
EWY and IEMG do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. EWY follows MSCI Korea 25/50 Daily 25 Capped Index and IEMG follows MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index (IMI).
- Holdings in common. 16% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 EWY returned +79.7% and IEMG +15.3% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 64.4 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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EWY
EWY tracks the MSCI South Korea. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +79.7% with distributions reinvested, against +16.3% for its benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.59% 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 78 positions, with the top ten at 60.9%. It sat 24.3% below its high of Jun 18, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
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, EWY or IEMG?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, EWY returned +79.7% and IEMG +15.3%.
- Which is cheaper, EWY or IEMG?
- IEMG is cheaper, by 0.50 percentage points a year. That is about $50 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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.
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ETFIQ, EWY against IEMG, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ewy-vs-iemg
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). EWY against IEMG. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ewy-vs-iemg
[EWY against IEMG (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ewy-vs-iemg)
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