Brazil, Russia, India and China - BRIC

What does 'BRIC' Mean?

An acronym for the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China combined. The general consensus is that the term was first prominently used in a Goldman Sachs report from 2003, which speculated that by 2050 these four economies would be wealthier than most of the current major economic powers.

The BRIC research findings:
If things go right, the firm’s economists argued that, given sound political decision-making and good luck, the BRIC economies together could become larger than those of the world’s six most developed countries in less than 40 years. i.e BRIC economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China together would be larger than G6 (G7 excluding Canada) in USD in less than 40 years. Of the current G6, only the US and Japan may be among the six largest economies in US dollar terms in 2050

Investopedia Says...

The BRIC thesis posits that China and India will become the world's dominant suppliers of manufactured goods and services, respectively, while Brazil and Russia will become similarly dominant as suppliers of raw materials. It's important to note that the Goldman Sachs thesis isn't that these countries are a political alliance (like the European Union) or a formal trading association - but they have the potential to form a powerful economic bloc.

BRIC is now also used as a more generic marketing term to refer to these four large emerging economies.

Wikipedia Says...

BRIC or BRICs are terms used in economics to refer to the combination of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The acronym was first coined in 2001 and prominently used in a thesis of the Goldman Sachs investment bank. The main point of these papers was to argue that the economies of the BRICs are rapidly developing and by 2050 will eclipse most of the current richest countries of the world. The Goldman Sachs thesis proposed something like an economic bloc, or a formal trading association, like the European Union.

However, there are strong indications that the "four BRIC countries have been seeking to form a political club" or "alliance", and thereby converting "their growing economic power into greater geopolitical clout". One of the recent indications was from a BRIC Summit meeting in 2008, in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg between the foreign ministers from the BRIC countries.

Click here for the detailed study of BRICs by Goldman Sachs - look especially at the research report called “Dreaming with BRICs: The Path to 2050″ and here for the world map of where they are.