Covers 54 markets and more than 2,200 stocks. Drawing a sample of stocks in each EMDB market, Standard & Poor's calculates indices designed to serve as benchmarks that are consistent across national boundaries. In so doing the indices have helped investors, advisors and academics overcome the difficulties of comparing locally-produced indices with differing methodologies.

Formerly published by the IFC as the Emerging Markets Database (EMDB)

The three emerging markets index series and other products and services associated with Standard & Poor's EMDB are:

• S&P Global Index Series (S&P/IFCG): The S&P/IFCG indices are the core of Standard & Poor's family of emerging markets indices. They are intended to represent the performance of the most active stocks in their respective markets and to be the broadest possible indicator of market movements. The current aggregate market capitalization of S&P/IFCG index constituents exceeds 75% of the total capitalization of all domestic listed shares on the local stock exchange. Industry or regional representation is not considered as a basis for building the S&P/IFCG Index Series. For index calculation purposes, Standard & Poor's uses a holding coefficient designed to adjust market capitalization by removing all cross holdings between constituent companies, all government holdings and significant strategic holdings that exceed 20%. The S&P/IFCG Composite Index currently includes 34 markets.
• S&P Investable Index Series (S&P/IFCI): the S&P/IFCI indices are designed to measure the type of returns foreign portfolio investors might receive from investing in emerging market stocks that are legally and practically available to them. Constituents for the S&P/IFCI series are drawn from the S&P/IFCG stock universe based on size, liquidity, and their legal and practical availability to foreign institutional investors. As with S&P/IFCG indices, Standard & Poor's calculates a coefficient, called the Investable Weight Factor (IWF), to adjust market capitalization for cross, government and strategic holdings. In addition, the IWF is used to account for any foreign investment restrictions either at the national level or by the individual company's corporate statute. Some markets included in the S&P/IFCG Composite Index are not included in the S&P/IFCI Composite Index due to limits on foreign investment or a lack of stocks that meet the more stringent &P/IFCI size and liquidity screens. The S&P/IFCI Composite index currently includes 23 markets
• S&P Frontier Index Series: In September 1996, EMDB began calculating monthly indices for those markets that tend to be relatively small and illiquid even by emerging market standards. Information for the "Frontier Markets" is generally less available than in other markets. For these reasons, S&P calculates weekly indices on a monthly basis. Frontier markets are not currently included in the daily S&P/IFCG Composite, although a monthly Frontier Composite Index is calculated. They are not considered "investable" for EMDB purposes, although they may be open to foreign portfolio investment. Standard & Poor's currently covers 20 frontier markets.