Share price index in major developed and emerging economies from January 2019 to June 2026
A share price index tracks the level of stock prices in a market over time, and comparing the indices of developed and emerging economies reveals one of the defining investing stories of the past decade. Rebased to 100 at the start of 2019, this overview follows the developed markets and emerging markets share price indices from January 2019 to June 2026. Developed markets here means the 23 advanced economies in the MSCI World index, led by the United States, while emerging markets means the 24 developing economies in the MSCI Emerging Markets index, from China and India to Brazil and Saudi Arabia. Rebasing both indices to 100 at January 2019 strips out their different starting levels and lets the eye compare growth directly, so a reading of 200 means a market has doubled since the start of 2019 regardless of where its raw index value happened to begin.
Developed markets, led by the United States, pulled far ahead of emerging markets over the period, even though emerging markets staged a strong recovery in 2025. The picture sits alongside our leading financial centres ranking and our global stock markets by country overview.
Developed markets dominate: rebased to 100 at January 2019, the developed markets index reached roughly 272 by June 2026 against about 182 for emerging markets, a gap built almost entirely after 2021.
The gap between the two groups has widened sharply since 2021, driven mainly by United States technology stocks, a theme our global financial markets and biggest companies by market value coverage explores in more detail.
A note on the data. The headline series use the MSCI World index for developed markets and the MSCI Emerging Markets index for emerging markets, measured as total returns in US dollars and rebased to 100 at January 2019. Per-country figures use each national benchmark index in local currency and are approximate. Total return means the figures include reinvested dividends as well as price changes, which gives a fuller picture of what investors actually earned than a price index alone, and US dollar terms make the developed and emerging groups directly comparable on a common-currency basis. The MSCI World and MSCI Emerging Markets indices are the most widely used benchmarks for the two groups, tracked by trillions of dollars of funds, which makes the gap between them not just a statistic but a real measure of how investors around the world have fared.
Major Economies by Share Price Index
| Economy | Type | Share price index (Jan 2019 = 100) |
|---|---|---|
 Japan | Developed | 345 |
 United States | Developed | 270 |
 India | Emerging | 250 |
 Taiwan | Emerging | 247 |
 Germany | Developed | 232 |
 China | Emerging | 164 |
 United Kingdom | Developed | 156 |
 Brazil | Emerging | 150 |
The table compares major developed and emerging economies by their national share price index, rebased to 100 at January 2019. It shows how far each market has travelled by June 2026 and how the developed and emerging labels do not always predict performance. Sorting the table by index level reveals that the developed and emerging labels are an imperfect guide to performance, since strong emerging markets such as India and Taiwan have outgrown several developed peers, while developed laggards such as the United Kingdom trail much of the field. Because each national index is shown in its own currency, the table is best read as a guide to how each domestic market performed for a local investor, rather than as a strict ranking of returns earned by a single global investor converting everything back into one currency.
Annual Returns: Developed vs Emerging Markets
Looking at returns year by year shows why the two groups diverged. Developed markets delivered strong gains in 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025, while emerging markets had a far rougher ride, with losses in both 2021 and 2022. The two worst years for emerging markets came back to back, with a small loss in 2021 as developed markets surged, followed by a deeper fall of around 20 percent in 2022 when rising interest rates and a strong dollar hit developing economies especially hard. Developed markets, by contrast, suffered only one losing year over the whole stretch, the broad selloff of 2022, and bounced back so quickly that by the end of 2023 the index had already climbed well above its previous peak, setting the tone for the records that followed.
The standout year for emerging markets was 2025, when they returned about 33.6 percent and comfortably beat developed markets for the first time in years. The swings echo the volatility our financial markets in the US overview describes.
A bumpier ride for emerging markets: developed markets had just one losing year, 2022, while emerging markets fell in both 2021 and 2022 before their standout 2025, when they returned about 33.6 percent.
Across the whole period, however, the steadier and stronger run of developed markets compounded into a large lead. A few weak years for emerging markets, especially 2021 and 2022, were enough to leave them well behind by 2026. The arithmetic of compounding is unforgiving, because a market that falls 20 percent in one year needs a 25 percent gain just to get back to where it started, which is why the back-to-back emerging-market losses of 2021 and 2022 left such a lasting mark on the longer-term comparison.
The Widening Performance Gap
The widening gap between developed and emerging markets is the clearest signal in the data. The two indices moved together until 2021, after which developed markets surged ahead and the distance between them grew almost every year. In the first three years the developed and emerging indices tracked each other closely, but from 2021 onward developed markets pulled away almost every year, opening a gap that by 2026 had grown into the widest sustained lead in well over a decade. The single biggest driver of the widening gap was the extraordinary run of a small group of American technology and artificial-intelligence stocks, whose soaring valuations lifted the United States-heavy developed index far faster than anything available in the emerging world.
By June 2026 the developed markets index sat far above the emerging markets index, a gap built almost entirely by United States megacap technology stocks. The same names dominate our Nasdaq stock market coverage.
The widening gap: the distance between the developed and emerging indices was tiny until 2021, then grew almost every year to roughly 90 points by 2026, driven by United States technology stocks.
The history of these markets suggests such gaps do not last forever. Emerging markets have outperformed for long stretches in the past, and the strong 2025 result hints that the cycle may be turning once again. Long-run history shows that leadership between developed and emerging markets tends to rotate in multi-year cycles, with emerging markets dominating in the 2000s before developed markets, and the United States in particular, took the lead through most of the following fifteen years.
Inside the Emerging Markets Index
Emerging markets are far from a single bloc. The MSCI Emerging Markets index spans 24 countries and around 1,205 companies, but a handful of large markets dominate its weight and therefore its performance. China still carries the largest single weight in the emerging markets index, but its share has fallen sharply from more than 30 percent a few years ago, as years of weak Chinese share prices and fast growth in India and Taiwan have rebalanced the index. India has been the standout riser within the index, climbing toward the top of the country weightings on the back of strong economic growth and a long bull market in its shares, while Taiwan has gained from the global boom in semiconductors and artificial-intelligence hardware.
China, Taiwan, India and South Korea together make up the bulk of the index, with Brazil, Saudi Arabia and South Africa among the larger of the rest. Much of this capital flows through funds, as our largest ETFs by market cap coverage shows.
Concentrated in Asia: China still leads the emerging markets index, but its weight has fallen as India, Taiwan and South Korea have risen, leaving four Asian markets to dominate the benchmark.
Because the index is so concentrated, the fortunes of emerging markets often hinge on a few countries. Strength in India and Taiwan has helped offset years of weakness in China, which once dominated the index far more than it does today. The heavy weighting of China, Taiwan, India and South Korea also means that the emerging markets index is, to a large degree, a bet on Asian technology and manufacturing, with semiconductors, internet platforms and electronics makers carrying outsized influence over its returns. The shrinking weight of China within the emerging index, from dominance a few years ago toward a more balanced split with India, Taiwan and South Korea, marks one of the most significant structural shifts in global equity benchmarks of the past decade.
Share Price Index by Economy
Measured by each national benchmark index in local currency, the major economies tell a more varied story than the developed and emerging split alone suggests. Japan and India sit near the top, while the United Kingdom and China trail. These national benchmark figures use the headline price index for each market, such as the Nikkei 225 for Japan, the S&P 500 for the United States and the Sensex for India, each rebased to 100 at the start of 2019 in its own currency. Japan tops the local-currency ranking after the Nikkei 225 broke above 69,000 points in 2026, finally surpassing the record it set back in 1989, while India and Taiwan also rank near the top thanks to strong domestic growth and a global technology boom respectively.
Japan leads on this measure, with the Nikkei 225 reaching record highs above 69,000 points in 2026, though a weaker yen flatters the local-currency figure. The United States, India and Taiwan follow, a spread our largest asset managers coverage reflects.
Japan and India on top: by national benchmark index in local currency, Japan leads after the Nikkei 225 topped 69,000 points in 2026, followed by the United States, India and Taiwan, with China and the United Kingdom trailing.
These per-country figures are in local currency, so they are not directly comparable with the US dollar indices. In common-currency terms the United States leads clearly, as the strength of the dollar and of American technology stocks has lifted its market above the rest. The currency effect cuts both ways, because while a weak yen flatters the Nikkei in local terms, it reduces the value of those Japanese gains when translated back into dollars, which is one reason the United States rather than Japan tops the comparison on a common-currency basis.
Developed vs Emerging: The Trade-Offs
Developed and emerging markets offer very different profiles. Developed markets have delivered higher returns and greater stability over the period, while emerging markets are cheaper on most valuation measures and pay higher dividend yields. On valuation, emerging markets typically trade at lower price-to-earnings ratios and higher dividend yields than developed markets, a discount that reflects both their faster growth potential and the higher political and currency risks that come with investing in developing economies. Stability is the developed markets advantage, as their deeper, more diversified economies and stronger institutions tend to produce smaller swings than emerging markets, whose returns can be whipsawed by currency crises, commodity cycles, political change and shifts in global risk appetite.
Emerging markets are also more spread across countries and sectors, giving them a broader base than the United States-heavy developed index. Investors weigh these trade-offs through funds like those in our leading fund groups overview.
Different strengths: developed markets score higher on past return and stability, while emerging markets look cheaper, pay higher dividend yields and spread their weight across more countries.
Neither profile is simply better. Developed markets have rewarded investors handsomely in recent years, but their high valuations and heavy concentration in a few American technology firms are exactly the risks that make cheaper emerging markets appealing to some. Concentration is the other key difference, since the developed index is dominated by a small number of very large American companies, whereas the emerging index spreads its weight across more countries and sectors, giving it a broader if more uneven base. Taken together, these trade-offs explain why many large investors hold both groups, leaning on developed markets for stability and growth while keeping a slice in emerging markets for their cheaper valuations, higher yields and exposure to the worlds fastest-growing economies.
Returns and Cumulative Growth
Charting annual returns against the cumulative index makes the compounding clear. Even with a sharp fall in 2022, developed markets strung together enough strong years to more than double the value of money invested at the start of 2019. The cumulative line shows that money left invested in developed markets at the start of 2019 had more than doubled by 2026, while the annual bars reveal how uneven the journey was, with a single sharp drawdown in 2022 interrupting an otherwise powerful run of gains. The shape of the cumulative curve, rising steadily then dipping sharply in 2022 before resuming its climb, is a textbook illustration of how equity markets reward long-term holders, since the investors who panicked and sold during the downturn missed the powerful recovery that followed.
The cumulative line climbs steadily after 2022, reaching record territory by 2026 as United States markets led global gains. Much of that money is managed by firms such as those in our asset management coverage.
Compounding through the dip: the bars show developed markets had only one down year in 2022, while the line shows money invested in 2019 more than doubling by 2026 despite that setback.
The pattern shows why time in the market matters. The worst single year, 2022, looks small against the long upward march of the index, rewarding investors who stayed invested through the downturn rather than selling out. For long-term investors the lesson of the period is that staying invested through the 2022 downturn was rewarded handsomely, as the developed index not only recovered its losses within about a year but went on to reach a series of fresh record highs through 2024, 2025 and into 2026.
The Geography of Each Index
The geography of the two groups could hardly be more different. The developed markets index is dominated by the Americas, where the United States alone accounts for around 70 percent of the total, with Europe and developed Asia making up most of the rest. The dominance of the United States in the developed index, at roughly 70 percent of its value, means the fortunes of developed markets are now closely tied to a handful of giant American technology firms rather than to advanced economies as a whole. Developed Asia, chiefly Japan, and developed Europe together make up most of the remaining weight in the developed index, but neither region comes close to the influence of the United States, whose technology giants now drive a large share of the entire developed-market return.
Emerging markets, by contrast, are overwhelmingly Asian, with China, Taiwan, India and South Korea leading the way and Latin America and the wider EMEA region playing smaller roles. These flows shape demand for assets like those in our iShares ETF coverage.
Two different maps: the developed index is dominated by the Americas, mainly the United States, while the emerging index is overwhelmingly Asian, led by China, Taiwan, India and South Korea.
This split helps explain the performance gap. The developed index rode the United States technology boom, while the emerging index was held back by years of weakness in China, its single largest market by some distance. Emerging markets, by contrast, depend heavily on China, whose long share-price slump weighed on the whole group, so that the gradual recovery of Chinese stocks and the continued strength of India and Taiwan are central to whether emerging markets can close the gap in the years ahead.
From 2019 to 2026, Market by Market
Comparing the start and end points drives the story home. Every major market is higher in 2026 than it was in January 2019, but the size of the gain varies enormously from one economy to the next. Because these figures are measured in each national currency, part of the variation reflects exchange-rate moves as well as share prices, with the weakness of the Japanese yen, for example, inflating the local-currency gain of the Nikkei 225 relative to its dollar value. The dispersion between the best and worst performers is striking, with the strongest national markets more than tripling since 2019 while the weakest managed only a modest rise, underlining how much the choice of market mattered for investors over this particular period.
Japan, the United States and India show the largest jumps on a national-index basis, while China and the United Kingdom show the smallest, a divergence our Vanguard assets coverage helps put in context.
From 2019 to 2026: every major market finished higher, but the size of the gain ranged from a small rise in China and the United Kingdom to a near tripling in Japan, India and the United States.
The dispersion is a reminder that the developed and emerging labels only tell part of the story. Strong individual markets such as India and Taiwan have outpaced several developed peers, even as their emerging-market group lagged overall.
Annualised Returns by Economy
Translating the gains into an annualised return ranks the economies on a comparable yearly basis. Japan, the United States, India and Taiwan top the list, each compounding at double-digit rates on their national indices over the period. Compounding at double-digit annual rates turns a strong start into an enormous lead over time, which is why the handful of markets that strung together good years, led by Japan, the United States, India and Taiwan, finished so far ahead of the slower-growing economies. Annualised figures also make clear how punishing the weak markets were, since an economy growing its share index at only five or six percent a year over seven years ends up far behind one compounding at thirteen or more, even though both technically rose over the period.
At the other end, China, the United Kingdom and Brazil grew far more slowly, held back by weak earnings, policy shifts and currency moves. Investors often hedge such risks with assets like those in our gold as an investment overview.
Annualised winners: Japan, the United States, India and Taiwan compounded at double-digit annual rates over the period, while China, the United Kingdom and Brazil grew far more slowly.
Annualised returns smooth out the year-to-year noise and show which markets rewarded patient investors most. The leaders combined steady growth with strong runs in technology and exporters, while the laggards struggled to string good years together.
Developed and Emerging Markets in Numbers
A few numbers capture the period. The developed markets index rose about 172 percent from January 2019 to June 2026, emerging markets rose roughly 82 percent, and 2025 was the standout year for emerging markets with a gain near 33.6 percent. The contrast between the steady developed-market climb and the volatile emerging-market path is the defining feature of the period, with developed markets rewarding patience and emerging markets testing it through long stretches of disappointment before the 2025 rebound. Perhaps the most important number is the roughly ninety-point gap between the developed and emerging indices by 2026, a chasm that captures in a single figure just how completely developed markets, and the United States within them, dominated the global equity story of the period.
The MSCI Emerging Markets index covers 24 countries and around 1,205 companies, while the developed MSCI World index spans 23 countries and is led by the United States. The interest-rate backdrop, set out in our leading investment banks overview, shaped both.
Together these figures show a period defined by United States strength, a long emerging-market drought and a tentative emerging-market revival in 2025, leaving investors to judge whether the next decade will look anything like the last.
Developed vs Emerging Markets: The Big Picture
Taken together, the share price indices of developed and emerging economies from 2019 to 2026 tell a story of American dominance. Developed markets, lifted by technology stocks and a strong dollar, far outran emerging markets, even as falling interest rates and shifting central bank policy reshaped the backdrop. The episode is a reminder that no single market leads forever, and that the very strength of developed markets, built on the soaring valuations of a few American technology firms, is also the source of their greatest vulnerability should that narrow leadership ever falter.
Whether the next stretch rewards developed or emerging markets is an open question, but the strong emerging-market rebound of 2025 and the high valuations of developed markets suggest the long gap may finally be starting to close, a shift that would ripple into assets from bonds to crypto.
Frequently Asked Questions: Developed and Emerging Markets
Yes. The developed markets share price index rose about 172 percent from January 2019 to June 2026, while emerging markets rose roughly 82 percent, a wide gap driven mainly by United States technology stocks.
Emerging markets are fast-growing developing economies such as China, India, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. The MSCI Emerging Markets index tracks 24 such countries and around 1,205 companies.
It is the main benchmark for emerging-market stocks, covering large and mid-cap shares across 24 emerging economies and about 1,205 companies, roughly 85 percent of each market by value.
Developed markets such as the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom are mature and stable. Emerging markets are faster-growing but more volatile, with cheaper valuations and higher dividend yields.
India and Taiwan were the strongest large emerging markets, lifted by technology and strong earnings, while China lagged badly and held back the wider emerging-market index.
Yes. Emerging markets returned about 33.6 percent in 2025 against roughly 21 percent for developed markets, their best year relative to developed markets in some time.
A share price index measures the overall level of stock prices in a market over time. Rebasing it to 100 at a start date makes it easy to compare growth across different markets.
The index covers 24 emerging economies, including China, Taiwan, India, South Korea, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.
Developed markets were lifted by a small group of giant United States technology firms and a strong dollar. The United States alone makes up around 70 percent of the developed markets index.
This is data journalism, not advice. Emerging markets look cheaper than developed markets and rebounded strongly in 2025, but they remain more volatile and depend heavily on China, India and Taiwan.
MSCI World and MSCI Emerging Markets index factsheets - Source for annual total returns in US dollars and cumulative performance from 2019 to 2026, with developed and emerging markets rebased to 100 at January 2019.
National stock exchange indices, including the Nikkei 225, S&P 500, DAX, FTSE 100, Sensex, Shanghai Composite, TAIEX and Bovespa - Source for per-country share price index levels in local currency, compiled by BusinessStats.
MSCI - Provider of the MSCI World and MSCI Emerging Markets indices.
