Comparison

BRICS vs G7: what is the difference?

Explainer · Published 10 October 2026 · Seventh in the reading path

BRICS and the G7 are both informal groupings of governments. Leaders meet and issue joint statements, and neither grouping is a treaty organization with a permanent secretariat. The G7 is seven advanced economies plus the European Union. BRICS, on the 2026 Indian chair’s own list, is eleven members spanning emerging economies, and it has a development bank the G7 does not.

What is BRICS? defines the grouping, including what it is not. This page only compares the two clubs.

What is the difference between BRICS and the G7?

They are both leaders’ clubs that decide by consensus and publish political statements rather than binding votes. They differ in who sits at the table, how wide that table is, and what they have built: BRICS has the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement, and the G7 has no bank or reserve pool of its own.

Each row is a dated official text. Shares of world GDP are not in this table.
Question	BRICS	G7	Dated source
When leaders first met	First BRIC leaders’ summit in Yekaterinburg in 2009. The Indian chair’s 2026 note calls that the start of the political forum.	The Group of Six first met at Rambouillet in 1975. Canada joined in 1976, which is when Canadian officials date the G7.	Indian Press Information Bureau note, 10 September 2026. Global Affairs Canada, “Canada and the G7,” accessed 10 October 2026. French presidency, “What is the G7?”, posted 13 December 2025.
Who is named	Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. Eleven names, printed by the Indian chair.	Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The European Union takes part and does not hold the rotating presidency.	PIB note, 10 September 2026. French presidency page, 13 December 2025. Global Affairs Canada, accessed 10 October 2026.
Who chaired in 2026	India. The 18th summit met in New Delhi on 12–13 September 2026.	France. Leaders met in Évian; the Council of the EU dated the joint statements to 16–17 June 2026.	BRICS New Delhi Declaration, 12 September 2026, as posted by the South African presidency. Council of the EU press release, 17 June 2026.
Institutions of its own	The declaration treats the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement as existing BRICS instruments. The CRA passage refers to a CRA Treaty still being amended.	No legal existence and no permanent secretariat, on the French presidency’s own page. The Évian growth statement points to the IMF and multilateral development banks, not to a G7 bank.	BRICS New Delhi Declaration, paragraphs 97 and 115, 12 September 2026. “What is the G7?”, 13 December 2025. Évian growth statement, 17 June 2026.
Sanctions language in 2026	Condemns unilateral coercive measures, including unilateral economic sanctions and secondary sanctions, and opposes sanctions the UN Security Council has not authorized.	Leaders said they would increase pressure on the Russian war economy and strengthen sanctions, including on oil and gas.	BRICS New Delhi Declaration, paragraph 22, 12 September 2026. Évian statement on geopolitical issues, 17 June 2026.
How a decision is made	The declaration reaffirms “collaboration and consensus.” It describes no vote that binds a capital that withheld agreement.	“Operates by consensus” and “does not have a treaty or permanent secretariat.” The French page adds that the group has no legal existence.	BRICS New Delhi Declaration, paragraph 2, 12 September 2026. Global Affairs Canada, accessed 10 October 2026.

Who is in BRICS and who is in the G7?

Name the governments from the document that prints them. The Indian chair’s list and the French presidency’s list are not the same length, and a partner country is not a member of either club.

BRICS members in 2026

The Indian government’s Press Information Bureau note of 10 September 2026 says BRICS “comprises 11 countries”: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the UAE. It says Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE became full members in January 2024, and that Indonesia joined as the eleventh in January 2025. The Rio de Janeiro Declaration of 6–7 July 2025 had already welcomed Indonesia as a member. Earlier roster history is on membership evolution.

Saudi Arabia, and which document lists it. Saudi Arabia is on that 10 September 2026 note, which calls it a full member from January 2024. The BRICS New Delhi Declaration of 12 September 2026 does not reprint the eleven names. This page reports Saudi Arabia as a member because the Indian chair’s note lists it. It does not treat the declaration as an instrument of accession.

G7 members and the EU’s role

The French presidency’s “What is the G7?” page, posted 13 December 2025, names Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and says the European Union “has been fully involved in G7 work since 1977.” Global Affairs Canada, read on 10 October 2026, dates Canada’s joining to 1976 and says the EU does not take part in the annual rotation. France held the 2026 presidency. Its president’s message of 15 December 2025 said the Group of Six first met at Rambouillet in 1975.

Partner countries are not members

The same Rio Declaration welcomed Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Nigeria, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Uganda, and Uzbekistan as partner countries, not as members. The country-file spoke keeps that category at BRICS partners.

Is BRICS bigger than the G7?

It depends on the measure — population, GDP at market exchange rates, or GDP at purchasing-power parity — and the answer moves with the year and the data vintage. This page does not publish an IMF share for either club.

The chair’s percentages, labeled as the chair’s. The Indian Press Information Bureau note of 10 September 2026 says the eleven countries it lists “represent 49.5% of the global population, 40% of global GDP, and 26% of global trade.” Those are the Indian government’s figures. They are not an IMF World Economic Outlook edition, and this desk did not recompute them from the IMF database or from World Bank population data. Do not cite them as IMF numbers.

Does BRICS have a bank and does the G7?

BRICS created the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement. The G7 has no bank of its own. Its 2026 leaders’ text on growth points to the IMF and to other multilateral development banks, which are not G7 organs.

The BRICS New Delhi Declaration of 12 September 2026 calls the New Development Bank “a crucial BRICS institution” (paragraph 115) and treats the Contingent Reserve Arrangement as an existing safety net, referring to amendments to the CRA Treaty (paragraph 97). Those instruments are not a founding treaty of the political club. What the bank is chartered to do is on the New Development Bank page. Local-currency lending, without a trade share this desk invented, is on de-dollarization. The French presidency’s page of 13 December 2025 says the G7 lacks “a legal existence” and a permanent secretariat. The Évian statement of 17 June 2026 calls for strengthening the IMF and multilateral development banks.

Is BRICS an alternative to the G7 or an anti-Western bloc?

Members disagree among themselves and decide by consensus, so the grouping does not cast a bloc vote. Paragraph 28 of the BRICS New Delhi Declaration, on “the continued escalation of tensions in Middle East/West Asia,” names no state. It recalls “respective national positions” and calls for “maximum restraint.” Later paragraphs do name parties on other files: Israel and Palestine on Gaza and the occupation, and Israel on the Lebanon ceasefire (paragraphs 30–35).

The sanctions contrast is in the 2026 documents. At Évian on 17 June 2026, G7 leaders wrote that they would “increase the pressure on the Russian war economy” and “strengthen our sanctions, including those on the oil and gas sectors.” Paragraph 22 of the BRICS New Delhi Declaration condemns unilateral economic sanctions and secondary sanctions, and opposes measures the UN Security Council has not authorized. Russia sits in BRICS while the G7 is tightening sanctions on it. The war those sentences are about is Russia’s war in Ukraine. India and Brazil, both on the Indian chair’s list, also joined a G7 foreign ministers’ session on 26–27 March 2026, with Saudi Arabia. How the declaration was worded is for the sister desk’s BRICS New Delhi Declaration note.

How each group decides

Both use a rotating chair and consensus. Neither publishes a vote that binds a government that withheld agreement, and neither has a permanent secretariat.

Paragraph 2 of the BRICS New Delhi Declaration reaffirms “collaboration and consensus.” India held the 2026 chairship and hosted the summit on 12–13 September 2026. How the summit, the bank, and the CRA fit together is on summits and institutions. On the G7 side, Global Affairs Canada says the group “operates by consensus,” and the presidency rotates among the seven states, not the EU. The French presidency’s 2026 news list records the preparatory layer by name: a third sherpa meeting in Toulouse, posted 1 June 2026. Sherpas draft. They do not vote.

What about the G20?

The G20 is a third club, not a step between these two. The French G7 presidency’s explainer of 13 December 2025 described the G20 summit as nineteen heads of state and government — a list that included every G7 member and Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — alongside the European Union, with the African Union in a permanent seat since 2024. That page also said the G20 countries “currently represent 85% of global GDP, and account for two thirds of the world’s population,” and that the United States would hold the 2026 presidency. The 85 percent is that page’s figure for the G20, not a BRICS-versus-G7 share.

The host site, g20.org/about-g20/, describes a forum established in 1999 with no permanent secretariat. Its Miami 2026 “State Participants” list, retrieved on 10 October 2026, includes Poland and does not print South Africa or the United Kingdom. Paragraph 116 of the BRICS New Delhi Declaration calls South Africa a G20 founding member and says any membership change should rest on consensus, not “arbitrary revision.” This page reports both documents and does not decide which roster is in force.

Short answers

BRICS and the G7 are informal leaders’ clubs with no founding treaty for the club itself and no permanent secretariat. The G7 is Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with the European Union fully involved since 1977 and outside the presidency rotation. BRICS, on the Indian Press Information Bureau note of 10 September 2026, is Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the UAE. BRICS has the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement. The G7 does not.

Whether BRICS is bigger depends on the measure and the vintage. This page does not give an IMF World Economic Outlook share. The only aggregate figures here are the Indian chair’s, in that 10 September 2026 note: 49.5 percent of world population, 40 percent of global GDP, and 26 percent of global trade, for the eleven countries the note names. They are not IMF numbers.

BRICS has a bank. The BRICS New Delhi Declaration of 12 September 2026 treats the New Development Bank as a BRICS institution and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement as a BRICS safety net. The G7’s Évian statement of 17 June 2026 points to the IMF and to multilateral development banks instead.