In 2001, Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill coined the phrase “BRIC” — referring to Brazil, Russia, India, and China — to describe the emerging market economies that looked set to drive global economic growth in subsequent decades. At the time, these countries were home to more than 40 percent of the world’s population and about a quarter of global GDP.

The term stuck. The four countries began to hold BRICs summits to foster cooperation outside the West’s orbit, adding South Africa to the acronym a decade later.

By 2008, each of the original BRIC countries had consolidated its position as a world power. And when the financial crisis dented the economies — and the confidence — of the developed world, the BRICs were there to pick up the pieces. While Europe and the United States faced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, China launched a wide-ranging stimulus program worth 20 percent of its GDP, dragging the global economy out of recession with huge infrastructure projects that extended far beyond its borders.