BRICS summit: 10 things to know

BRICS was originally a four-member grouping of Brazil, Russia, India and China, or BRIC.

The first BRIC summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009.

It was only two years later, in 2001, that the term "BRIC" was coined, by Jim O'Neill coined in his publication 'Building Better Global Economic BRICs'.

South Africa officially joined BRIC in 2010, leading to the group being renamed BRICS - with the "S" for South Africa.

The five BRICS countries represent over 3.6 billion people, or half of the world’s population.

The five BRICS countries have a combined GDP of $16.6 trillion.

India's $2.38 trillion economy is growing 7.5 percent annually, which is the fastest of the five BRICS countries.

At $11.4 trillion, China has the largest economy of the BRICS countries.

South Africa's economy, estimated at $327 billion in 2015, is by far the smallest among the BRICS nations.

BRICS launched its own bank in 2015, to fund infrastructure and development projects in member countries. BRICS bank, officially known as New Development Bank (NDB), is based in Shanghai, and India's KV Kamath is its current president.