BRICS Expansion in 2025: Geopolitical Shift and Economic Implications

The BRICS alliance has grown from its original five founding members to eleven nations as of 2025, now representing 40% of the global population and 37.3% of world GDP. Saudi Arabia's pending July 2025 accession marks the latest phase of a strategic expansion attracting countries seeking alternatives to Western-dominated financial systems.

Thirty-two nations have expressed formal interest in joining, with 23 applications currently under review. This growth trajectory traces back to the bloc's 2006 foundation by Brazil, Russia, India, and China - a grouping first identified in Goldman Sachs' seminal "Build Better Global Economic BRICs" research. South Africa's 2010 inclusion formed the Core five-nation structure that prevailed for over a decade.

The 2024-2025 expansion wave brought six new members: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE joined in January 2024, followed by Indonesia in January 2025. This eastward shift consolidates the alliance's role as a counterbalance to traditional economic power centers, with particular implications for commodity markets and reserve currency dynamics.