Brazil, Russia, India, China And South Africa - BRICS

An acronym for the combined economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. BRIC, without South Africa, was originally coined in 2003 by Goldman Sachs, which speculates that by 2050 these four economies will be the most dominant. South Africa was added to the list on April 13, 2011 creating "BRICS".

As of 2011, these five countries were among the fastest growing emerging markets. 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 the four original emerging economies.

Due to lower labor and production costs, many companies also cite BRICS as a source of foreign expansion opportunity.