BRICS has expanded to 20 countries – 10 members and 10 partners – after adding Vietnam. BRICS+ now makes up 44% of world GDP (PPP) and 56% of the global population. The US failed to divide China and Vietnam in its Second Cold War.The Global South-led organization BRICS continues to expand.

While the United States and Israel were busy waging war on Iran in June, BRICS quietly announced that Vietnam had accepted the group’s invitation to join as a partner country.The BRICS 20 have a combined population of 4.45 billion, out of a global population of 8.01 billion in 2025, based on IMF data.

This means that BRICS+ represents 55.61% of the world population.

With the addition of Vietnam, the extended BRICS+ has 20 members and partners, as of July 2025.

The 10 BRICS members are Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.

The 10 BRICS partners are Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

Together, the BRICS 20 make up 43.93% of the global economy, when their combined GDP is measured at purchasing power parity (PPP), according to IMF data.

was initially founded as BRIC – by Brazil, Russia, India, and China – in 2009. South Africa joined in 2010, and it became BRICS.

The Global South-led organization first expanded at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2023, adding new members.

At its 2024 summit in Kazan, Russia, BRICS invited a dozen more countries to join as “partner states”.

Since it has expanded, the group has frequently been referred to as BRICS+, although there is not a fixed definition of this term, and both names are used.

Vietnam had been invited to become a BRICS partner at the summit in October 2024, but it waited to accept the invitation until June 2025.

USA fails to divide China and Vietnam: Hanoi maintains non-alignment.

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