FTSE Developed World Index

What the FTSE Developed World Index is, where it lives officially, and how its ride has looked over the years.

What does the FTSE Developed World Index track?

Around 2,000 large and mid-sized companies across roughly 25 developed countries, maintained by FTSE Russell — the FTSE family's answer to the MSCI World.

Same idea as the MSCI World (the rich world in one basket, no emerging markets), just a slightly wider net and FTSE's own country rules — most notably FTSE counts South Korea as developed while MSCI still calls it emerging. In practice the two track each other closely.

Maintained byFTSE Russell (part of LSEG)
On this site we follow it throughVanguard logoVanguard FTSE Developed World UCITS ETF (Acc) (VGVF).

Every figure here is in euros — what you'd actually pocket buying on Xetra. Fund fact sheets usually headline returns in US dollars, which can look very different: in 2025 a world tracker rose about 23% in dollars but only about 9% in euros, because the euro gained roughly 13% against the dollar. Here's the full story, year by year.

VGVF since 2020

Price history of VGVF tracking the FTSE Developed World Index€48€68€89€110€1312020202120222023202420252026

The chart shows the dividend-adjusted share price of VGVF, the ETF tracking this index — not the raw index level. The shape of the ride is the same.

VGVF returns by year (EUR)

Last 5 years
+13.23%
average per year (CAGR)
YearTotal return
2026 (so far)+13.72%
2025+8.99%
2024+24.73%
2023+20.35%
2022-13.58%
2021+31.62%
2020+2.32%

Calendar-year total returns of VGVF in EUR, dividends reinvested — the ETF tracking this index, not the raw index level.

Compare VGVF head to head

Yearly returns side by side against the other funds we track.