BRICS adds six new members

BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

The 15th BRICS Summit was held at Johannesburg (South Africa) from 22nd – 24th August, 2023.

On Thursday, the BRICS Bloc announced that six more countries have been invited to join the Bloc. This means that all the existing BRICS members – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, have agreed that these countries should join the bloc.

The countries that have been invited are (East – West)

A. Iran

B. United Arab Emirates (UAE)

C. Saudi Arabia

D. Ethiopia

E. Egypt

F. Argentina

Counties in mauve are the current members of BRICS. Countries in blue will become permanent members from 1st January 2024.

The other countries that visited this summit and had talks with the leaders, either 1:1 or in subgroups, included Bangladesh, Senegal, Cuba, Mozambique, and other African and Asian nations.

What the new BRICS Looks Like

This table lists the population and GDP (2023 numbers) for the existing and new BRICS nations.

Source: IMF Data for GDP and World Meter for population.

As we can see, the BRICS Bloc now has 46% of the world’s population and 29% of the global GDP.
Three of the world’s top ten economies are a part of BRICS.

BRICS now has 42% of the world’s oil production.

Presenting: Pictures from the event and an infographic that showcases the new BRICS.