The founding countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China held the first summit in Yekaterinburg in 2009, with South Africa joining the bloc a year later.[4][5] Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates joined the organisation on 1 January 2024. Saudi Arabia is yet to officially join, but participates in the organisation's activities as an invited nation.[6][7][2]
The BRICS countries are considered the foremost geopolitical rival to the G7 bloc comprising the leading advanced economies, implementing competing initiatives such as the New Development Bank, the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, the BRICS pay, the BRICS Joint Statistical Publication[11] and the BRICS basket reserve currency.[12]
BRICS has received both praise[13][14] and criticism[15][16][17] from numerous commentators.
^ abCite error: The named reference imf.org was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Total Population – Both Sexes". World Population Prospects, the 2019 Revision. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, Population Estimates and Projections Section. June 2019. Archived from the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).