ETF Industry Shatters Inflows Record With $1.88T Global Haul
Global investors poured a record $1.88 trillion into exchange-traded funds in 2024, a dramatic increase from the previous record of $1.29 trillion set in 2021, according to ETFGI’s latest report.
The surge in ETF adoption reflects a shift in how investors access markets globally, with the industry demonstrating consistent growth through 67 months of net inflows while expanding its reach across 81 exchanges in 63 countries.
Assets in the global ETF industry reached $14.85 trillion by the end of 2024, representing a 27.6% increase from the $11.63 trillion recorded at the end of 2023, according to the report.
Active ETFs emerged as one of the top drivers of growth, attracting nearly $41.8 billion in December alone and reaching $374.3 billion in total 2024 inflows, more than double the nearly $184.1 billion gathered in 2023, the ETFGI data revealed.
Fixed-income ETFs demonstrated strong momentum, gathering $314.3 billion in 2024, surpassing 2023’s inflow of $272.9 billion, based on the report findings.
The emerging markets index increased by 0.2% in December and finished 12% higher for 2024, with the United Arab Emirates and Greece leading gains among these markets in December, according to Deborah Fuhr, managing partner at ETFGI.
The emerging markets' performance, however, stands in contrast to developed markets excluding the U.S., which saw a 2.7% decrease in December, though still managing a 3.8% gain for 2024, according to the report.
The divergence highlights the evolving nature of global ETF investments, as investors increasingly use the vehicles to capture targeted exposure to high-growth regions.
To meet this growing demand for diverse market exposure, the ETF industry expanded its global footprint. The industry now offers 13,198 products with 26,244 listings from 814 providers across the globe, according to the ETFGI report.
This expansion includes new commodity-focused products, with commodity ETFs attracting $3.9 billion in 2024, reversing the previous year’s outflows of nearly $16.9 billion, based on the report data.
The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) led individual fund flows for December, gathering more than $23.1 billion, while emerging market-focused products gained increasing attention from global investors, according to the ETFGI findings.
Meanwhile, the iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF (IWD) and the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) attracted nearly $4.1 billion and $3.2 billion in December flows, respectively, according to the report’s top fund flow data.
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