Introduction*.

The article examines the countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) as political factors in international relations. Global investment banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs projected that the combined gross domestic products (GDPs) of these four economies would be greater than the Group of 7 (G7) countries by 2050. In 2006 financial information company Dow Jones introduced the BRIC 50 index. Also discussed are emerging markets and the world's population, the global GDP, and the goals of the BRICs.