The Best Emerging-Market Equity ETFs to Buy

Emerging-market stocks can offer diversification for portfolios otherwise devoted to developed markets like Canada and the United States. However, information on emerging-market companies can be scarce, and investing in some emerging markets can be complex relative to larger and more liquid markets.

Exchange-traded funds provide investors with an easy and efficient way to add a wide array of emerging market stocks to their portfolios. These ETFs have high-conviction

, meaning Morningstar analysts believe they will outperform their peers over the long term.

What Are Emerging-Markets Equity Funds?

Funds in the emerging markets equity category must invest at least 90% of their equity holdings in a broadly based portfolio of securities from emerging markets countries, according to the Canadian Investment Funds Standards Committee. Funds with a consistently narrow focus on a single country, group of countries or single region within the emerging markets will be excluded from the category.

Definitions of emerging markets can vary across index and fund providers, according to Morningstar manager research analysts. “Notably, FTSE excludes South Korea from this portfolio,” writes manager research analyst Lan Anh Tran, “while the average peer in the diversified emerging-markets category invests around 10% in this market.”

The 6 Best Emerging-Markets Equity ETFs to Buy in 2026

To find the best emerging markets equity ETFs to buy, we screened for those earning a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Bronze, Silver, or Gold with 100% analyst coverage. All the ETFs on the list fall into the emerging markets equity Morningstar Category and have at least C$100 million in assets. All data is as of Feb. 24.

• BMO MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF ZEM
• iShares MSCI Min Vol Emerging Markets Index ETF XMM
• iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets IMI Index ETF XEC
• iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF XEM
• Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap Index ETF VEE
• iShares ESG Aware MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF XSEM

Morningstar expects the highly rated emerging-markets equity funds on this list to outperform their peers over a full market cycle. But even though all the funds on our list fall into the same category, they may practice different strategies, and therefore behave differently from each other. Investors need to do some homework to understand exactly what a particular fund invests in before buying.

Here’s a quick look at each of the best emerging-markets equity ETFs. Be sure to review a fund’s complete report for more details.

BMO MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF

The C$2.9 billion fund has climbed 40.46% over the past 12 months, outperforming the average fund in its category, which rose 38.50%. The BMO fund, launched in October 2009, has climbed 20.66% over the past three years and 6.85% over the past five.

BMO MSCI Emerging Markets ETF should benefit from a low fee and a broad portfolio, but indexing is a blunt tool for managing the geopolitical risks inherent to emerging markets.

This fund tracks the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which sweeps in large- and mid-cap stocks from 24 emerging markets, including China A-shares and South Korean stocks. It weights each stock by its market cap, which benefits investors by capturing the market’s collective opinion of each stock’s value while mitigating turnover and trading costs. Occasionally, it will increase the fund’s exposure to expensive stocks when investors get excited about an area of the market, but this doesn’t undermine its long-term efficacy. MSCI also employs buffers and liquidity screens in its construction process to make the portfolio easier to track.

In general, emerging markets face greater geopolitical risks than their developed counterparts. For instance, MSCI had to remove Russian stocks from the fund’s target index in February 2022, and the fund marked its Russian stocks’ values down to zero. The impact on performance was limited by the fund’s single-digit allocation to Russian stocks at the end of January 2022. The fund also cannot avoid many of the state-owned behemoths prevalent in emerging markets, which may not always prioritize the interests of public shareholders.

The fund’s 0.27% annual fee falls into the cheapest quintile of the emerging markets equity category and helped it easily beat its category average. This low fee should continue to provide a long-term edge.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the BMO MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF.

iShares MSCI Min Vol Emerging Markets Index ETF

Over the past 12 months, the iShares fund rose 15.9%, while the average fund in its category rose 38.5%. The fund, launched in July 2012, has climbed 12.20% over the past three years and 5.62% over the past five.

IShares MSCI Emerging Markets Minimum Volatility Factor ETF, iShares MSCI Minimum Volatility Emerging Markets Index ETF, and iShares Edge MSCI Emerging Markets Minimum Volatility UCITS ETF are well-designed low-volatility strategies whose ability to weather drawdowns should continue to drive stellar risk/reward profiles.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Minimum Volatility Index, the benchmark these funds fully replicate, follows a meticulous set of instructions. It uses an optimizer to carve out a defensive portfolio from the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, a broad collection of large- and mid-cap stocks from developing nations. The optimizer considers stocks’ individual volatility and how their performance interrelates with other holdings. That holistic view favors steady operators like Taiwan Mobile and President Chain Store, but it also sweeps in some turbulent stocks that dance to their own tunes. For instance, Indian retailer Trent Limited is more volatile than most, but its unique performance patterns helped it join the portfolio in early 2024.

So far, the index has delivered on its goals. Its returns were roughly 25% less volatile than the MSCI Emerging Markets Index over the 10 years through April 2025. That kept its risk-adjusted performance within striking distance of the parent index despite weaker returns. Investors shouldn’t expect these funds to keep pace when the market rallies or excel every single time it wobbles, but their risk/reward profiles should measure up well over the long haul.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the iShares MSCI Min Vol Emerging Markets Index ETF.

iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets IMI Index ETF

The C$3.8 billion fund has gained 36.30% over the past 12 months, while the average fund in its category is up 38.50%. The iShares fund, launched in April 2013, has climbed 20.28% over the past three years and 6.94% over the past five.

IShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets IMI ETF’s main strength is its low fee, which makes it a solid option for investors seeking emerging-market equity exposure. That said, the complexities inherent in emerging markets can leave opportunities for the best active managers to add value and limit our conviction in this passive approach.

The fund tracks the performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index. The index aims to capture large-, mid-, and small-cap equities across 24 emerging-market countries. With more than 3,000 constituents, the index covers approximately 99% of the free-float-adjusted market capitalization in each country. Including small caps allows for greater diversification and broader exposure.

The recent performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets IMI has varied across different countries. Focusing on its largest country exposures (in US dollar terms), stocks from Korea posted a return of 93%, far outpacing Taiwan stocks’ return of 38% in 2025. Conversely, India returned just 0.4% for the year. China, the largest country in the index with a weight of approximately 25% to 30%, delivered a strong 31.5% return.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets IMI Index ETF.

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF

The C$324.1 million fund has climbed 39.06% over the past 12 months, performing roughly in line with the average fund in its category, which rose 38.50%. The iShares fund, launched in June 2009, has climbed 20.39% over the past three years and 6.17% over the past five.

IShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF accurately captures most of the emerging-market universe. However, indexing is a blunt tool for managing the geopolitical risks inherent to emerging markets, and the fund’s high fee limits its appeal.

This fund tracks the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which sweeps in large- and mid-cap stocks from 24 emerging markets, including China A-shares and South Korea. It weights each stock by its market cap, which benefits investors by capturing the market’s collective opinion of each stock’s value while mitigating turnover and trading costs. Occasionally, it will increase the fund’s exposure to expensive stocks when investors get excited about an area of the market, but this doesn’t undermine its long-term efficacy. MSCI also employs buffers and liquidity screens in its construction process to make the portfolio easier to track.

BlackRock charges a hefty 0.82% annual management fee for this exchange-traded fund, despite similar offerings available for a fraction of that price. Nonetheless, this is still lower than what many of its actively managed Morningstar Category peers charge and helped it outperform the category average from its 2009 inception through December 2025.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF.

Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap Index ETF

Over the past 12 months, the Vanguard fund rose 26.13%, while the average fund in its category rose 38.50%. The fund, launched in November 2011, has climbed 17.34% over the past three years and 6.09% over the past five.

Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index’s broad portfolio and rock-bottom expense ratio should help it outperform category peers over the long haul. However, the unavoidable geopolitical risk of emerging markets can introduce unwanted volatility.

The fund tracks the FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China A Inclusion Index, which includes large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks from more than 20 emerging economies. Its market-cap-weighted approach benefits investors by reflecting the market’s collective opinion of each stock’s value while mitigating turnover and trading costs. A buffer around the lower market-cap boundary further limits excessive trading. Occasionally, the index will increase exposure to expensive stocks when investors get excited about an area of the market, but that doesn’t undermine its long-term efficacy.

All the funds’ share classes fall in the least-expensive quintile of their respective category, which helped each outperform its category average from inception through December 2025. This ultralow price tag should continue to provide a durable advantage.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap Index ETF.

iShares ESG Aware MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF

The C$5.5 billion fund has gained 37.45% over the past 12 months, while the average fund in its category is up 38.50%. The iShares fund, launched in March 2019, has climbed 20.62% over the past three years and 6.11% over the past five.

IShares ESG Aware MSCI Emerging Markets ETF ESGE captures most of the emerging-markets universe despite some mild environmental, social, and governance-driven tilts. However, indexing is a blunt tool for managing the geopolitical risks inherent to emerging markets.

This fund tracks the MSCI Emerging Markets Extended ESG Focus Index. The index uses an optimizer to maximize its exposure to stocks with high ESG ratings while keeping its expected tracking error to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index at around 1%. This is a tight constraint, so the fund’s risk profile and long-term performance have closely matched that of the parent index. To further tether the portfolio to the parent index, the optimizer keeps a lid on the fund’s active bets at the sector, country, and individual stock level. As a result, the fund may still hold sizable stakes in sectors or companies that some ESG investors would rather avoid.

Its low annual fee of 0.25% helps preserve the advantage of its broad and diversified portfolio over category peers. The fund outperformed the category average by 92 basis points annualized from its 2016 inception through December 2025.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the iShares ESG Aware MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF.