There are two ways to set weights according to market capitalisation. The first method is to use only the market capitalisations of all the funds in your portfolio. The weight of a fund is determined by dividing its market cap by the sum of the market cap of all the funds in the portfolio. This method therefore sets the weights only relative to the other funds, and not relative to some fixed index. You can take ESG exclusions into account with this method.
The second method to determine weights is to compare the market cap of a regional index to the market cap of a total world index, most commonly the ACWI IMI (All Country World Investable Market Index). This method sets the weights not relative to each other, but relative to the absolute market cap of a total world index. I therefore call these absolute weights, in contrast to the relative weights of the first method. It can be difficult to fill all the categories to make your portfolio sum to 100 %. For example, you might not want to have a separate Emerging Market Small Cap fund or separate Israel fund. This can be solved by substituting the closest related fund you do have, such as increasing the weight of Emerging Markets and Europe for the previous two examples.
This table shows the relative weights of indices or funds in selected portfolios with regards to the summed market capitalisation of the indices or funds that are used. These are not necessarily the same as the weights with regards to the full world market capitalisation (such as the ACWI IMI index).
Relative weights are shown for a portfolio containing only two funds, and for one containing three funds.
| Index | Market cap | 2 funds | 3 funds | No EM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSCI World | 91,704,810.20 | 88.1 % | 79.8 % | 89.4 % |
| MSCI World Small Cap | 10,840,089.76 | N/A | 9.4 % | 10.6 % |
| MSCI Emerging Markets | 12,338,300.43 | 11.9 % | 10.7 % | N/A |
| Fund | ESG exclusions | Adjusted market cap | 2 funds | 3 funds | No EM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Trust World Screened Equity | 5.4 % | 86,743,579.97 | 88.1 % | 81.2 % | 91.3 % |
| Northern Trust World Small Cap Low Carbon Equity | 23.5 % | 8,295,920.69 | N/A | 7.8 % | 8.7 % |
| Northern Trust Emerging Markets Screened Equity | 4.8 % | 11,750,997.33 | 11.9 % | 11.0 % | N/A |
| Fund | ESG exclusions | Adjusted market cap | 2 funds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cardano ESG Transition Enhanced Index Equity Global | 16.1 % | 76,912,824.31 | 88.8 % |
| Cardano ESG Transition Enhanced Index Equity Emerging Markets | 21.2 % | 9,723,814.57 | 11.2 % |
'World' and 'World Small Cap' are complementary and only include developed markets. 'Emerging Markets Small Cap' is complementary to 'Emerging Markets' but is not practical to include separately in a simple portfolio due to the small market capsee below and fund availability.
This table shows the weight of indices compared to the market capitalisation of a reference index, such as the World (IMI) and ACWI (IMI) indices. Also included are the weights for a simple example portfolio.
| Index (PDF download) | Market cap | % World | % ACWI (SC) | % ACWI IMI | Last updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACWI IMI | 116,598,205.91 | N/A | N/A | 100 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| ├─ ACWI | 104,043,110.63 | N/A | 100 % | 89.2 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ ├─ World | 91,704,810.20 | 100 % | 88.1 % | 78.7 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ │ ├─ USA | 66,157,416.63 | 72.1 % | 63.6 % | 56.7 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ │ ├─ Canada | 3,169,903.49 | 3.5 % | 3.0 % | 2.7 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ │ ├─ Europe | 14,465,642.37 | 15.8 % | 13.9 % | 12.4 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ │ ├─ Pacific | 7,660,291.78 | 8.4 % | 7.4 % | 6.6 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ │ │ ├─ Japan | 5,296,586.66 | 5.8 % | 5.1 % | 4.5 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ │ │ └─ Pacific ex Japan | 2,363,705.11 | 2.6 % | 2.3 % | 2.0 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ │ └─ Israel | 251,555.93 | 0.3 % | 0.2 % | 0.2 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ └─ Emerging Markets | 12,338,300.43 | N/A | 11.9 % | 10.6 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| └─ ACWI Small Cap | 12,555,095.28 | N/A | 100 % | 10.8 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| ├─ World Small Cap | 10,840,089.76 | N/A | 86.3 % | 9.3 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| └─ Emerging Markets Small Cap | 1,715,005.52 | N/A | 13.7 % | 1.5 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| Index (PDF download) | Market cap | % World IMI | % ACWI IMI | Last updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACWI IMI | 116,598,205.91 | N/A | 100 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| ├─ World IMI | 102,544,899.95 | 100 % | 87.9 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ ├─ USA IMI | 72,851,753.25 | 71.0 % | 62.5 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ ├─ Canada IMI | 3,634,736.96 | 3.5 % | 3.1 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ ├─ Europe IMI | 16,093,075.01 | 15.7 % | 13.8 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ ├─ Pacific IMI | 9,555,523.91 | 9.3 % | 8.2 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ │ ├─ Japan IMI | 6,660,706.66 | 6.5 % | 5.7 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ │ └─ Pacific ex Japan IMI | 2,894,817.26 | 2.8 % | 2.5 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| │ └─ Israel IMI | 409,810.82 | 0.4 % | 0.4 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
| └─ Emerging Markets IMI | 14,053,305.95 | N/A | 12.1 % | AUG 31, 2026 |
The index data is also available in a CSV file.