index
MSCI World ex USA
Developed-market equities excluding the US
Index Battle · Evidence-first comparison
MSCI World ex USA vs STOXX Europe 600: Which Exposure Fits Your Portfolio?
Excluding the US is not the same as buying Europe — and this pair is where that distinction matters most.
Last reviewed: 26 August 2026IndependentNo paid placementsInformational only
vs
index
STOXX Europe 600
Broad European equities
Overall verdict
MSCI World ex USA holds developed markets outside the United States, which means Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, France, Germany and others. STOXX Europe 600 stops at Europe. Investors reaching for a 'non-US' allocation often buy the European fund by default and unintentionally exclude the large Japanese, Canadian and Australian markets.
Quick Decision
Choose MSCI World ex USA if…
the goal is to diversify away from the US across the whole developed world, including the Asia-Pacific and Canadian markets.
Choose STOXX Europe 600 if…
the intended exposure really is Europe, and Japanese, Canadian and Australian equities are held elsewhere or excluded deliberately.
Either can make sense if…
the country list is checked directly rather than inferred from the fund's name.
At a glance
Entity characteristics—not reference-product fees.
| Characteristic | MSCI World ex USA | STOXX Europe 600 |
|---|---|---|
| Exposure | Developed-market equities excluding the US | Broad European equities |
| Geography | Developed markets ex US | Europe |
| Market coverage | Large and mid cap | Large, mid and small cap |
| Emerging markets | Not included | Not included |
| Small caps | Not included | Included |
| Weighting | Market-cap weighted | Market-cap weighted |
| Index provider | MSCI | STOXX |
Five key differences
- 1.Exposure: Developed-market equities excluding the US compared with Broad European equities.
- 2.Geography: Developed markets ex US compared with Europe.
- 3.Market coverage: Large and mid cap compared with Large, mid and small cap.
- 4.Small caps: Not included compared with Included.
- 5.Index provider: MSCI compared with STOXX.
Decision scorecard
ExposureDepends
GeographyDepends
Market coverageDepends
Small capsDepends
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
STOXX Europe 600 sits inside the developed ex-US universe but covers only part of it. Substituting one for the other changes the currency mix substantially — the yen, Canadian dollar and Australian dollar disappear entirely.
Common mistake
Using a European fund as an 'international' allocation. It leaves roughly the entire developed Asia-Pacific region out of the portfolio.
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.
MSCI World ex USA reference product
Xtrackers MSCI World ex USA UCITS ETF 1C
- ISIN
- IE0006WW1TQ4
- Product type
- UCITS ETF
- Provider
- Xtrackers
- Tracked benchmark
- Not currently available
- Distribution
- Accumulating
- Currency hedging
- Unhedged
- Replication
- Physical
- Domicile
- IE
- Base currency
- USD
- Ongoing charge (TER)
- 0.15%
- Fund size
- €6.28bn
- Inception
- 6 Mar 2024
Selected deterministically from 7 eligible products in the Grovcap database — never by commercial arrangement.
STOXX Europe 600 reference product
Xtrackers Stoxx Europe 600 UCITS ETF 1C
- ISIN
- LU0328475792
- Product type
- UCITS ETF
- Provider
- Xtrackers
- Tracked benchmark
- STOXX Europe 600 INDEX
- Distribution
- Accumulating
- Currency hedging
- Unhedged
- Replication
- Physical
- Domicile
- LU
- Base currency
- EUR
- Ongoing charge (TER)
- 0.20%
- Fund size
- €5.45bn
- Inception
- 20 Jan 2009
Selected deterministically from 11 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 STOXX Europe 600 UCITS ETFsLarge, mid and small-cap developed Europe in a fixed 600-stock index.BenchmarkMSCI World benchmark guideUnderstand developed-market coverage and exclusions.Best ETFsBest Europe UCITS ETFsCompare the broader regional choices before selecting a European benchmark.PortfolioIs One All-World ETF Enough?Separate genuine diversification from overlap and intentional tilts.
Disclaimer
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