MSCI World vs FTSE All-World: what’s the difference?
The names look nearly the same, but there’s one real difference: a ‘World’ fund holds developed markets only, while an ‘All-World’ fund adds emerging markets on top.
👉 Change the numbers above — it’s your money, your assumptions.
Same idea, different reach
Both are broad, cheap, ‘own-a-slice-of-the-world’ funds — the difference is how much world. A World index (like the MSCI World) covers developed markets: the US, Western Europe, Japan, and a couple of dozen other established economies. An All-World index (like FTSE All-World, or MSCI ACWI) takes that and adds emerging markets — places like China, India, Taiwan and Brazil — so it reaches a little further across the globe.
The one decision that matters
Strip away the branding and you’re really answering a single question: do you want emerging markets in the mix or not? Including them casts a wider net and captures fast-growing economies; leaving them out keeps things a touch calmer and simpler. Emerging markets are only a minority slice of an all-world fund, so the two funds behave quite similarly day to day — this isn’t a dramatic fork in the road.
A note on overlap
One trap worth avoiding: holding a World fund and a separate emerging-markets fund is basically a home-made All-World — which is fine, but don’t also buy an All-World on top, or you’ll double up. Pick the single fund that matches the reach you want, rather than stacking overlapping ones. As always, we’re laying out the difference, not telling you which to choose.
Compare any two here
The quickest way to see it for yourself is to line them up. Search for a couple of funds, open each one, and check the The part of the world the fund invests in — for example world, US, Europe or emerging markets. More → it covers and its yearly fee (the The yearly running cost of the fund, shown as a % of your money. Lower is cheaper. More → ). Same broad idea, slightly different map — and now you know exactly what that difference is.