Brazil, Russia, India, and China are collectively known as the BRIC nations. This name came from a 2003 paper from Jim Oneil at Goldman Sachs titled Dreaming With BRIC’s the Path to 2050 and Beyond. Not a call to Buzz Light year but instead a legitimate economic theory that these four nations would go from emerging markets to huge economic growth engines that would possibly become the largest economies in the world.

Basically these nations: Brazil, Russia, India, and China have several different and large economic forces working in their favor. Traditionally the problem with growth in these countries has been rampant corruption and bad government policies. Well the last ten years has seen some huge inroads into fixing all of these and their economies have taken note growing at very fast paces and already starting to gain on their developed brethren.

The first letter in the acronym is B and it stands for Brazil. One of the largest non OPEC oil nations Brazil is also the home to many different industries. They have a large and proven banking system as well as airlines and manufacturing. But the two biggest drivers for the next several years will likely be the growing education of its population and the huge energy supplies that Brazil has.

Who else has oil and is trying to make the jump to developed status? If you said Russia you would be right. Since the wall came down in 1989 Russia has made some major leaps and bounds towards becoming a player in the world economy. The vast natural resources like oil is the primary economic driver but they are trying to expand and be more then a one trick pony. If rampant government corruption can be tamed Russia will be one of the great success stories of this century.

The great nation of outsourcing is up next. India long known for things like the Taj Mahal is now known for its large educated and English speaking population. Probably the number one country in the world for tech support outsourcing India is now becoming a legitimate hot bed of technology in its own right. But the thing that really sets India apart is the fact that it has such a large educated population.

China is last but not least having recently passed up Japan as having the second largest stock market in the world behind the United States. Long a communist nation China now takes the soft line in politics and instead is focused on improving their economy and the standard of living for its citizens. There are obviously still may challenges that lay ahead of China and the rest of the BRIC nations but they appear to be overcoming them and getting rid of the old guard of corruption and instead becoming huge economic powerhouses.