BRICS welcomes nine new partner countries, further solidifying its global influence by encompassing half the world’s population and 41% of the global economy.
The grouping of BRICS countries is to get even bigger in 2025.
It was originally named BRIC in 2009, after its four founding members – Brazil, Russia, India and China. Then four became five and the name changed to BRICS when it expanded in 2010 to include South Africa.
Five became nine in 2024, with the inclusion of four new member states – Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.
Now a further expansion is in prospect. On 1 January 2025, BRICS welcomed nine countries as “partners” – states that do not automatically have full membership but will work towards membership in the future.
The countries are Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan. They accepted the invitation extended at the BRICS summit in Russia in October 2024.
Four other countries – Algeria, Nigeria, Turkey and Vietnam – have not yet responded to the invitation to become BRICS partners. Argentina accepted, but subsequently rejected, the path to BRICS membership.
The nine BRICS members plus the nine new partner countries comprise half of the world’s population and 41% of the global economy, according to a detailed analysis in Monthly Review online.
