A term used to refer collectively to the four nations of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The term was coined by Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs in 2001. His point was to emphasise the predicted shift of economic power away from the G7 and towards the developing world. It is widely estimated that by 2030 the BRIC economies will have overtaken the G7 in terms of GDP.

As the leading emerging markets, other countries with shared growth characteristics are often included in extensions of the acronym, such as BRIMC, adding in Mexico, or BRICS, including South Africa