In economics, BRIC is a grouping acronym that refers to the countries of B razil. R ussia. I ndia and C hina. which are all deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development. It is typically rendered as the BRICs or the BRIC countries or the BRIC economies or alternatively as the Big Four. A related acronym, BRICS . includes S outh Africa .

The acronym was coined in 2001 by Jim O’Neill from investment bank Goldman Sachs in a paper entitled Building Better Global Economic BRICs. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] The acronym has come into widespread use as a symbol of the apparent shift in global economic power away from the developed G7 economies towards the developing world.

Projections on the future power of the BRIC economies vary widely. Some sources suggest that they might overtake the G7 economies by 2027. [ 5 ] More modestly, Goldman Sachs has argued that, although the four BRIC countries are developing rapidly, it was only by 2050 that their combined economies could eclipse the combined economies of the current richest countries of the world. [ 6 ]

In 2010, however, while the four BRIC countries accounted for over a quarter of the world’s land area and more than 40% of the world’s population. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] they accounted for only one-quarter of the world gross national income. [ 9 ] [ 10 ]

According to a paper published in 2005, Mexico and South Korea were the only other countries comparable to the BRICs, but their economies were excluded initially because they were considered already more developed, as they were already members of the OECD. [ 11 ] The same creator of the term BRIC endorsed the term MINT. that includes Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey. [ 12 ] [ 13 ]

Goldman Sachs did not argue that the BRICs would organize themselves into an economic bloc, or a formal trading association, as the European Union has done. [ 6 ] However, there are some indications that the four BRIC countries have been seeking to form a ‘political club’ or ‘alliance’, and thereby converting their growing economic power into greater geopolitical clout. [ 14 ] [ 15 ] On June 16, 2009, the leaders of the BRIC countries held their first summit in Yekaterinburg. and issued a declaration calling for the establishment of an equitable, democratic and multipolar world order. Since then they have met in Brasília in 2010, met in Sanya. on China’s Hainan Island in 2011 and in New Delhi. India. in 2012. [ 16 ]

Some other developing countries that have not yet reached the N-11 economic level, such as South Africa. aspired to BRIC status. South Africa was subsequently successful in joining the bloc, despite the fact that economists at the Reuters 2011 Investment Outlook Summit dismissed the prospects of South African success. [ 17 ] Jim O’Neill, for example, told the summit that South Africa, at a population of under 50 million people, was just too small an economy to join the BRIC ranks. [ 18 ] However, after the BRIC countries formed a political organization among themselves, they later expanded to include South Africa, becoming the BRICS. [ 19 ]

Several of the more developed of the N-11 countries, in particular Turkey. Mexico. Indonesia and South Korea. were seen as the most likely contenders to the BRICs.

In recent years, the BRICs have received increasing scholarly attention. Brazilian political economist Marcos Prado Troyjo and French investment banker Christian Déséglise founded the BRICLab at Columbia University. a Forum examining the strategic, political and economic consequences of the rise of BRIC countries, especially by analyzing their projects for power, prosperity and prestige through graduate courses, special sessions with guest speakers, Executive Education programs, and annual conferences for policymakers, business and academic leaders, and students. [ 20 ]