The MSCI World is a widely followed global stock market index that tracks the performance of around 1500 large and mid-cap companies across 23 developed countries.^[1][2] It is maintained by MSCI, formerly Morgan Stanley Capital International, and is used as a common benchmark for global stock funds intended to represent a broad cross-section of global markets.

The index includes a collection of stocks of all the developed markets in the world, as defined by MSCI. But because the index excludes stocks from emerging and frontier economies, it is less worldwide than the name suggests. A related index, the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI), incorporated both developed and emerging countries. MSCI also produces a Frontier Markets index, including another 31 markets.^[3]

The MSCI World Index has been calculated since 1969,^[4] in various forms: without dividends (Price Index), with net or with gross dividends reinvested (Net and Gross Index), in US dollars, Euro and local currencies.

The index includes companies in the following countries/regions:

The GICS breakdown is shown here.

• (a) Total returns including reinvested dividends.^[6][7]

• FTSE Global Equity Index Series (FTSE All-World Index)
• Exchange-traded fund
• MSCI EAFE
• S&P Global 1200
• Stock market index