index
FTSE Developed World
Developed-market global equities
Index Battle · Evidence-first comparison
FTSE Developed World vs S&P 500: Which Exposure Fits Your Portfolio?
FTSE's developed-market definition against the best-known US large-cap benchmark.
Last reviewed: 26 August 2026IndependentNo paid placementsInformational only
vs
index
S&P 500
US large-cap equities
Overall verdict
FTSE and MSCI classify a small number of markets differently — South Korea being the long-standing example — so FTSE Developed World is not identical to its MSCI equivalent even though both describe 'developed markets'. Against the S&P 500, however, that nuance is secondary: the decision is whether roughly two dozen developed markets or one should determine returns.
Quick Decision
Choose FTSE Developed World if…
you want developed-market diversification and are content for a single provider's classification framework to define the boundary.
Choose S&P 500 if…
US large caps are the intended exposure and non-US developed markets are handled separately or excluded on purpose.
Either can make sense if…
the country and currency exposure is checked against the rest of the portfolio, including any home-market bias already held.
At a glance
Entity characteristics—not reference-product fees.
| Characteristic | FTSE Developed World | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|
| Exposure | Developed-market global equities | US large-cap equities |
| Geography | Developed markets worldwide | United States |
| Market coverage | Large and mid cap | Large cap |
| Emerging markets | Not included | Not included |
| Small caps | Not included | Not included |
| Weighting | Market-cap weighted | Market-cap weighted |
| Index provider | FTSE Russell | S&P Dow Jones Indices |
Key differences
- 1.Exposure: Developed-market global equities compared with US large-cap equities.
- 2.Geography: Developed markets worldwide compared with United States.
- 3.Market coverage: Large and mid cap compared with Large cap.
- 4.Index provider: FTSE Russell compared with S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Decision scorecard
ExposureDepends
GeographyDepends
Market coverageDepends
Index providerDepends
“Depends” means the category reflects an investor objective, not universal superiority.
Coverage, countries and sectors
Verified holdings, concentration, country and sector datasets are not currently connected. When available, each dataset will be labelled as official index data or Reference ETF holdings; listing domicile will not be presented as economic revenue exposure.
What this means in a portfolio
FTSE Developed World already includes the S&P 500's companies at market weight. Holding both raises the US share and leaves the non-US developed allocation as the only real diversifier.
Common mistake
Assuming all 'developed world' indices contain the same countries. Provider classification differences are small but real, and they are the reason two similar-sounding funds can diverge.
Historical comparison basis
Historical performance is represented using Grovcap-selected reference exchange-traded products. It is not the official index or spot return series. Fund or ETP returns can differ because of fees, taxes, tracking, cash positions, product structure and other implementation effects. Differences can reflect TER, tracking difference, withholding taxes, sampling, securities lending, cash drag, operating expenses, currency conversion and inception date.
No period is currently comparable across both reference products on a like-for-like currency, basis and reporting-date footing, so no return figures are shown. Grovcap never renders a missing return as 0.00%.
Grovcap does not currently hold a daily net-asset-value time series for these products. Indexed performance charts, annualised volatility, maximum drawdown and return-per-risk therefore remain unavailable rather than being estimated from period returns.
Reference instruments used
One canonical European exchange-traded product per exposure, chosen by published rules: exact benchmark family, active and published, plain long-only, then accumulating, unhedged, longest usable history and largest established product.
FTSE Developed World reference product
Vanguard FTSE Developed World UCITS ETF (USD) Accumulating
- ISIN
- IE00BK5BQV03
- Product type
- UCITS ETF
- Provider
- Vanguard
- Tracked benchmark
- FTSE Developed Index
- Distribution
- Accumulating
- Currency hedging
- Unhedged
- Replication
- Index
- Domicile
- Ireland
- Base currency
- USD
- Ongoing charge (TER)
- 0.12%
- Fund size
- Not currently available
- Inception
- 24 Sept 2019
Selected deterministically from 3 eligible products in the Grovcap database — never by commercial arrangement.
S&P 500 reference product
Xtrackers S&P 500 Swap UCITS ETF 1C
- ISIN
- LU0490618542
- Product type
- UCITS ETF
- Provider
- Xtrackers
- Tracked benchmark
- S&P 500 INDEX
- Distribution
- Accumulating
- Currency hedging
- Unhedged
- Replication
- Synthetic
- Domicile
- LU
- Base currency
- USD
- Ongoing charge (TER)
- 0.15%
- Fund size
- €8.17bn
- Inception
- 26 Mar 2010
Selected deterministically from 49 eligible products in the Grovcap database — never by commercial arrangement.
Continue researching
Related Grovcap guides, rankings and tools to take the next step.
Best ETFsBest MSCI World UCITS ETFsEvery plain MSCI World UCITS share class compared on cost, size and structure.Best ETFsBest S&P 500 UCITS ETFsEvery S&P 500 UCITS share class compared on cost, size and structure.Best ETFsBest FTSE All-World UCITS ETFsEvery core FTSE All-World UCITS share class compared on cost, size and structure.BenchmarkS&P 500 benchmark guideUnderstand the coverage and limits behind S&P 500 ETFs.ETF comparisonCSPX vs VUAATwo accumulating Irish-domiciled S&P 500 trackers compared side by side.
Disclaimer
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