VWCE vs IWDA: Which ETF Should You Choose?
Two accumulating, Ireland-domiciled, physically-replicated ETFs. Similar cost. Completely different index scope. This guide breaks down the only difference that actually matters — and shows you how to decide between them in under five minutes.
Some of the links on this site are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you if you sign up through them. This does not affect our reviews or recommendations — we only feature products we genuinely believe are useful for investors. This site provides educational content only, not personalized investment advice. Investments can lose value and past performance does not guarantee future results. You are responsible for your own financial decisions and for confirming the tax and legal rules that apply in your country.
Developed world vs. the whole world
Everything people agonise over — TER, domicile, replication method, accumulation — is essentially identical between VWCE and IWDA. The only meaningful difference is the index each fund tracks.
Approximately 3,700 stocks across 49 countries. Includes both developed markets (~90%) and emerging markets (~10%): China, India, Brazil, Taiwan, South Korea, and more. One fund, the entire investable world.
Approximately 1,400 stocks across 23 developed-market countries only. Emerging markets are entirely excluded. Higher concentration in US large-cap tech. Cheaper TER by 0.02 percentage points.
Side-by-side comparison
Key metrics as of May 2026. AUM and holdings counts fluctuate daily — verify current figures on official fund factsheets before investing.
| Feature | VWCE | IWDA |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (USD) Acc | iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF USD (Acc) |
| ISIN | IE00BK5BQT80 | IE00B4L5Y983 |
| Tickers | VWCE (Xetra/BI), VWRA (LSE USD), VWRP (LSE GBP) | IWDA (AEX/LSE), SWDA (BI/Xetra), EUNL (Xetra) |
| Benchmark | FTSE All-World Index | MSCI World Index |
| TER | 0.22% p.a. | 0.20% p.a. |
| Fund domicile | Ireland | Ireland |
| Replication | Physical (optimised sampling) | Physical (optimised sampling) |
| Income treatment | Accumulating | Accumulating |
| Number of holdings | ~3,700 | ~1,400 |
| AUM (approx.) | ~$42B (share class) | ~$140B |
| Emerging markets | Yes (~10%) | No |
| Provider | Vanguard | BlackRock (iShares) |
TER figures from fund provider factsheets as of Q1 2026. Always verify current TER on the official Vanguard and iShares factsheets before investing.
Geographic breakdown
The biggest practical difference between the two funds shows up in the geographic weight table. VWCE carries ~10% in emerging markets; IWDA concentrates that weight back into US and other developed markets.
| Country / Region | VWCE weight | IWDA weight |
|---|---|---|
| United States | ~61.6% | ~67.3% |
| Japan | ~5.8% | ~5.6% |
| United Kingdom | ~3.4% | ~3.4% |
| Canada | ~3.1% | ~3.2% |
| France | ~2.1% | ~2.9% |
| China | ~3.0% | 0% |
| Taiwan | ~3.0% | 0%* |
| South Korea | ~2.3% | 0%* |
| India | ~2.0% | 0% |
| Brazil | ~0.7% | 0% |
* Taiwan and South Korea are classified as developed markets by MSCI, so they appear in IWDA — but at different weights to VWCE due to index construction differences. Weights approximate as of April 2026 from official fund pages.
Top 10 holdings: nearly identical at the top
Despite the index difference, the top 10 holdings in both funds are dominated by the same US mega-cap technology stocks — NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet. The weighting differences are minor because IWDA’s exclusion of EM simply redistributes that ~10% back into the existing developed-market positions.
| Holding | VWCE weight | IWDA weight |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA | 4.58% | 5.30% |
| Apple | 3.83% | 4.67% |
| Microsoft | 2.97% | 3.27% |
| Amazon | 2.50% | 2.51% |
| Alphabet A | 2.19% | 2.09% |
| Broadcom | 1.89% | 1.74% |
| Alphabet C | 1.78% | 1.75% |
| Meta | 1.31% | 1.56% |
| TSMC | 1.61% | ~1.00% |
| Tesla | 1.06% | 1.32% |
Weights from official Vanguard and iShares fund pages, April 2026. Subject to monthly rebalancing.
What history actually shows
IWDA has modestly outperformed VWCE since VWCE’s 2019 launch. The reason is straightforward: the MSCI World Index excludes emerging markets, which significantly underperformed developed markets — particularly US tech — through the 2010s and early 2020s.
- Higher concentration in US mega-cap tech (NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft)
- No drag from Chinese equity underperformance (2021–2024)
- No drag from broader EM volatility
- EM contains the fastest-growing economies by GDP (India, Indonesia, Vietnam)
- US tech valuation multiples already at historic highs
- Currency diversification from EM may benefit in a weaker-USD environment
Total cost of ownership
The sticker-price TER is only part of the picture. For European investors, what matters is the all-in cost: fund expense + broker trading costs + any FX conversion. Neither fund has a structural advantage on fund-level tax treatment — both are Ireland-domiciled and benefit from the same US-Ireland tax treaty (15% US dividend withholding tax).
| Cost layer | VWCE | IWDA |
|---|---|---|
| TER (fund expense) | 0.22% | 0.20% |
| US dividend withholding tax | 15% (Ireland treaty) | 15% (Ireland treaty) |
| Bid-ask spread (typical) | Very low (high liquidity) | Very low (highest liquidity) |
| Rebalancing friction | Zero (automatic) | Manual if paired with EMIM |
| Two-fund blended TER (IWDA 90% + EMIM 10%) | N/A | ~0.21–0.22% |
At typical European brokers, both ETFs cost roughly the same to trade. On Trade Republic and Scalable Capital, both are available as free savings plan ETFs (€1 flat fee per execution). On DEGIRO, both are available under the free ETF core selection (subject to terms), meaning the TER difference — €2 per year per €10,000 invested — is genuinely the only material cost gap between a VWCE position and a single IWDA position.
Replicating VWCE with IWDA + EMIM
Some investors use IWDA as a developed-markets core and add iShares Core MSCI EM IMI UCITS ETF (EMIM, IE00BKM4GZ66) to approximate VWCE’s all-world coverage. Here is what that looks like in practice.
IWDA / EMIM by market-cap weight. Rebalance annually or when drift exceeds ~5%.
IWDA 0.20% x 90% + EMIM 0.18% x 10%. Negligible savings vs VWCE’s 0.22%.
Every contribution requires two separate buy orders plus periodic rebalancing decisions.
The two-fund route is worth considering only if: (a) you want to deliberately underweight or overweight emerging markets relative to their free-float cap weight, or (b) a specific broker offers one of the two ETFs free and the other not — making the blended execution cost meaningfully lower.
For most monthly investors running a straightforward savings plan, the operational simplicity of a single VWCE position is the correct default. The marginal TER saving is measurable in cents, not euros, at typical portfolio sizes below €100,000.
Which ETF should you choose?
There is no universally correct answer. The decision reduces to one core question: do you want automatic exposure to emerging markets at market-cap weight, or not?
- Want a single-fund, set-and-forget global portfolio
- Are comfortable with ~10% automatic EM exposure
- Run a monthly savings plan and want zero rebalancing decisions
- Believe long-run economic growth in Asia, Latin America, and Africa should be in your portfolio
- Are not optimising for the absolute lowest headline TER
- Want developed-markets-only exposure with no China, India, or Brazil risk
- Plan to add EM exposure separately at a custom weight (e.g. 20% rather than 10%)
- Are in a tax regime where each ETF position is taxed separately and consolidating to one fund has no advantage
- Prefer the highest-liquidity, largest-AUM fund available
- Are building a more granular multi-fund portfolio and want precise regional control
Now compare the brokers that carry VWCE and IWDA
Once you have picked your ETF, the broker matters. See fee breakdowns, real-cost scenarios, and our recommendations for European investors.
Go deeper
Common questions
What is the main difference between VWCE and IWDA?
The core difference is index scope. VWCE tracks the FTSE All-World Index, covering approximately 3,700 stocks across both developed and emerging markets with roughly 10% EM weight. IWDA tracks the MSCI World Index, covering approximately 1,400 stocks in developed markets only — emerging markets are excluded entirely. Everything else (Ireland domicile, physical replication, accumulating income treatment) is essentially the same.
Does IWDA include emerging markets?
No. IWDA tracks the MSCI World Index, which covers developed markets only: the US, Japan, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, and a handful of others. Countries like China, India, Brazil, and Indonesia are excluded. If you want exposure to emerging markets alongside IWDA, you need to add a separate ETF such as iShares Core MSCI EM IMI (EMIM).
Which ETF has the lower TER — VWCE or IWDA?
IWDA has the lower TER at 0.20% per year, compared to VWCE at 0.22% per year. The gap is 0.02 percentage points — on a €10,000 portfolio that is €2 per year. This difference is negligible for most investors. If you try to replicate VWCE’s coverage by pairing IWDA with an EM ETF, the blended TER is approximately 0.21–0.22%, which largely eliminates the saving. Always verify the current TER on the official fund factsheet before investing.
Has VWCE or IWDA performed better historically?
IWDA has modestly outperformed VWCE since VWCE’s 2019 launch, primarily because the MSCI World Index concentrates more heavily in US large-cap technology stocks, which dominated global returns through the 2010s and early 2020s. VWCE’s ~10% emerging markets weight was a drag during this period. Historical outperformance does not predict future results — a period of EM outperformance would close the gap or reverse it.
Can I replicate VWCE using IWDA and another ETF?
Yes. The common approach is IWDA (developed markets) plus iShares Core MSCI EM IMI UCITS ETF (EMIM, IE00BKM4GZ66) in roughly a 90/10 split by market cap. This replicates VWCE’s approximate geographic exposure. The trade-off is operational complexity: you must manually rebalance the two positions over time, and each rebalancing transaction incurs broker fees and potential tax events. For most passive investors, the simplicity of a single-fund VWCE position outweighs the marginal TER savings.
Which ETF is better for a monthly savings plan in Europe?
For a regular monthly savings plan (Sparplan), VWCE is generally the more practical choice for most European investors. You buy one ETF, dividends are reinvested automatically via accumulation, and you have no rebalancing decisions to make. Both VWCE and IWDA are available as free savings plan ETFs on Trade Republic and Scalable Capital. The deciding factor is whether you want automatic emerging markets exposure built in.
Are there distributing versions of VWCE and IWDA?
Yes. The distributing equivalent of VWCE is VWRD (USD-denominated, listed on the LSE). The distributing equivalent of IWDA is IWRD. Both accumulating versions (VWCE, IWDA) reinvest dividends inside the fund with no cash payout, which is generally more efficient for long-term compounding and avoids the need to manually reinvest distributions.
Nothing on this page is an offer, solicitation, or recommendation to buy or sell any security. ETF data (TER, AUM, holdings, geographic weights) is sourced from official Vanguard and iShares fund pages and justETF as of April–May 2026 and is subject to change. Always verify current fund details on the official fund factsheet before investing. Investments can lose value and past performance does not guarantee future results. You are responsible for your own investment, tax, and legal decisions.