In short: The FTSE All-World index is a market-capitalisation-weighted benchmark covering thousands of large and mid-cap companies across both developed and emerging economies worldwide. European investors frequently access this index through the Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF, available in accumulating (VWCE) and distributing (VWRL) share classes at a 0.14% annual cost.
In short
The FTSE All-World is an equity index that tracks large and mid-sized companies across both developed and emerging markets. An ETF from Vanguard tracks this index and is available in two share classes: VWCE and VWRL. This page provides a factual outline of how the index and the funds are structured. It is not a recommendation or advice on whether this investment suits your personal situation.
How the index is built
The index is managed by FTSE Russell, which is part of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). Its goal is to provide a broad reflection of the global equity market. To achieve this, the index includes companies from developed countries as well as emerging markets. (If you want to compare this with an index that leaves out emerging markets, see our page on the MSCI World).
The companies are weighted based on their free-float market capitalisation. This means that market value determines the weight: the larger the total market value of a company’s tradable shares, the larger its position within the index. As a result, the index automatically moves in line with the changing sizes of businesses on the stock market.
On 31 August 2026 the index held 4,264 stocks, and the ten largest companies together weighed 23.73% (FTSE Russell index factsheet). The index is reviewed every quarter, in March, June, September and December; the larger semi-annual review is in March and September.
What is in it and what is not
Because the weighting is driven by market value, the United States is by far the most heavily weighted country in the index. That follows from the weighting by market value and says nothing about good or bad.
What does the index exclude? Small companies, known as small caps, are not part of the FTSE All-World.
The funds
The Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF is an Ireland-domiciled fund that tracks this index. The fund buys the shares itself (physical replication) and holds a representative sample of the index. On 31 August 2026 the fund held 3,784 stocks and managed USD 85,317 million in total.
This fund offers two share classes. They each have their own name and ISIN, as share classes of the same underlying Vanguard fund:
- VWCE: This is the accumulating share class. The dividend is automatically reinvested back into the fund. Launched on 23 July 2019.
- VWRL: This is the distributing share class. The dividend is paid out to investors four times a year. Launched on 22 May 2012.
| Class | Ticker (EUR) | ISIN | Ongoing costs | Dividend | Check date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| accumulating | VWCE | IE00BK5BQT80 | 0.14% | reinvested in the fund | Nov 2026 |
| distributing | VWRL | IE00B3RBWM25 | 0.14% | paid out, 4 times a year | Oct 2026 |
The official documents are on the issuer’s site:
- VWCE: KID, published on Vanguard’s website
- VWRL: KID, published on Vanguard’s website
The ongoing costs for both share classes are equal: 0.14% per year. This rate has been in effect since 28 July 2026. In older articles, you might still encounter the previous rates, such as 0.19% (from October 2025) or the 0.22% charged before that. You can read about where to buy ETFs in our FAQ on funds and brokers. Dividend tax can play a part for distributing funds.
This is general information, not tax or investment advice. For your own situation, consult a qualified tax adviser, a financial adviser licensed by the AFM (the Dutch financial markets authority) or the Belastingdienst.
VWCE’s KID in plain words
Every fund sold to private investors in the EU must publish a Key Information Document (KID): three pages with the costs, the risk and example scenarios, in a fixed format. Below are the figures from VWCE’s KID, each with what it means. We read the document every month and note when something changes on our changes page.
| Figure | What the KID says | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Ongoing costs | 0.14% a year | Management and running costs, taken from the fund’s value. This is the figure most sites call the TER. |
| Transaction costs | 0.02% a year | The fund’s own costs of buying and selling shares, on top of the 0.14%. Together 0.16% a year. |
| Risk class | 4 out of 7, “a medium risk class” | A scale from 1 to 7 based on past price swings. It describes the past; it is not a promise. |
| Recommended holding period | 5 years | The period the KID calculates its scenarios for. You can sell earlier, but the result can then differ more. |
| Warning | “not simple and may be difficult to understand” | The KID says this about the fund itself. It is a reason to read the figures slowly, not a sign that something is wrong. |
| Depositary | “no compensation or guarantee scheme” if the depositary fails | The depositary is the bank that keeps the fund’s assets. The protection of your broker account is a separate matter. |
How the “moderate scenario” moved
The scenarios in a KID are recalculated every month from the past ten years of the fund and its benchmark. So they move with the market, even when the fund itself does not change. Between December 2023 and September 2026 the moderate one-year figure for VWCE more than doubled, from 7.00% to 14.80% a year.
| KID scenarios as at | Moderate, 1 year | Stress, 1 year |
|---|---|---|
| 31 December 2023 | 7.00% | −82.00% |
| 30 June 2024 | 10.20% | −81.90% |
| 31 December 2024 | 11.70% | −81.90% |
| 30 June 2025 | 13.20% | −55.10% |
| 31 December 2025 | 14.60% | −55.10% |
| 30 June 2026 | 14.80% | −55.00% |
| 30 September 2026 | 14.80% | −55.00% |
Read a scenario as “what the recent past would have given”, not as what you will get. The stress figure shows the other side: in the same document, a bad year could mean losing more than half.
Things to know
As with any investment, the value of this fund can go down as well as up. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
An important factor to consider is exchange rates. The base currency of the Vanguard fund is the US dollar, but the ETF trades in euros on European exchanges. Meanwhile, the underlying shares are priced in many different local currencies. Because of this, fluctuating exchange rates affect the final value of your investment in euros, along with any currency costs depending on your broker and account.
Sources and check date
Data regarding costs and composition come straight from the issuer’s documents. If you want to review these yourself, check our guide on how to read a factsheet. All other sources can be found on our main ETF overview page. The fund data come from Vanguard’s factsheet of 31 August 2026 and the KID of 29 September 2026; the index data from FTSE Russell’s index factsheet (31 August 2026) and the ground rules of the FTSE Global Equity Index Series (September 2026).
Facts checked on 3 October 2026.
Source of the fund data: the issuers' factsheets and KIDs. Where the data comes from