The BRICS and nontraditional security

Coined in 2001 by economist Jim O’Neill (2001), the term “BRIC” refers to the economies and states of Brazil, Russia, India and China. In 2001, the BRIC economies reflected only a small portion of global gross national product, but a large portion of the world’s population and territory. In demographic terms, the BRIC include two of the world’s most-populated countries. In 2015, China alone was home to one fifth of the world’s population (18.7 percent) and was followed closely by India (17.8 percent). Other members of the group-Brazil (2.8 percent) and Russia (1.9 percent)-also had large populations (World Bank Databank 2017b). The BRIC countries also boast large territories: Russia’s territory is 16.4 million square kilometres, India’s is three million square kilometres, China’s is 9.4 million square kilometres and Brazil’s is 8.4 million square kilometres (World Bank Databank 2017a). While the economy of each BRIC member has grown rapidly since the acronym was coined in 2001, the BRIC continues to self-identity as developing or emerging states.