Top Emerging Markets List, 2019

A Data-driven Index to Highlight Promising Business Destinations for 2019

In the context of a global economic and business environment, emerging markets have increasingly been taking center-stage in the growth strategies of businesses across the globe, with GDP growth rates across emerging markets outpacing that of developed economies. With accelerated middle-class expansion and a large and growing working-age population, it is a remarkable consumption story in the emerging markets, where investors are increasingly being taking advantage of. Moreover, prudent governance in emerging markets through the provision of state-of-the-art infrastructure and attractive business measures also works as a prime growth enabler.

Index Methodology:
The concept of go-to emerging markets, however, is an ever-changing one, in the light of heightened volatility in the financial markets, looming geopolitical concerns, increasing competitions, and changing business needs. In this context, the author annually monitors global emerging markets using a comprehensive, data-driven indexing approach to identify emerging market front-runners, transforming emerging markets, as well as fledgling emerging markets. Following the release of the 2017 and 2018 Emerging Markets List, the author has now developed the 2019 Emerging Markets List to help companies develop a systematic and proactive approach to emerging market expansion.

According to the author, an Emerging Market should fulfil the following 3 criteria:

• Nominal GDP for 2019, based on projections by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), should be $25 billion and more.
• Total population for 2019, based on projections by the IMF, should be more than 5 million.
• GDP per capita based on purchasing power parity (PPP) for 2019, based on projections by the IMF, should not be more than $35,000.

Based on the fulfilment of these three criteria, 64 emerging countries were chosen and a ranking system was applied to these countries.

Regional coverage includes Africa, Americas, Asia-Pacific, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.