BRICS Countries 2026: The 10 Members

This BRICS countries list has changed three times in three years, and each change has spawned its own search-spike war. As of the New Delhi summit on September 12–13, 2026, the bloc counts ten full members — but the count is only half the story. The partner-country tier, the long-running Saudi Arabia question, and the acronym's literal meaning have all drifted out of sync with the spreadsheet answer most guides print at the top of the page.

This piece lays out the full list with the year each country joined, the partner-country middle tier, the Saudi status that has stalled since 2023, and what the ten-member bloc actually decided in New Delhi — with the exam-prep framing the catalogue already promises.

Last verified: October 5, 2026.

Which countries are in BRICS in 2026?

That list is the headline answer. The body language belongs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's New Delhi address: the ten members collectively represent 50 percent of the world's population, 40 percent of global GDP, and more than 25 percent of global trade. Inside the bloc sit two of the world's three most populous countries, two of its five largest economies, and four of its nine nuclear-armed states. Any list that omits those shares sells the bloc short.

From BRIC to BRICS in Two Years

The acronym is older than the bloc. Goldman Sachs analyst Jim O'Neill coined "BRIC" in 2001 as a label for Brazil, Russia, India, and China; the first leaders' summit followed in 2009, after the four economies had begun coordinating through the G20 framework. South Africa was admitted at the end of December 2010, the bloc became BRICS, and the founding four operated as a five-member grouping for almost fourteen years.