Investment Company Institute

 INTERNATIONAL MUTUAL FUNDS SURVEY
Second Quarter, 1997

The tables below show assets (in millions of U.S. dollars) and numbers of funds for 32 different countries, where data is available, as of the end of June 1997.

Growth in mutual funds worldwide is part of the overall growth in both the size and maturity of many foreign capital markets. The markets of many developed nations have benefited in recent years from favorable economic conditions. At the same time, the markets in some emerging nations have prospered because of new investment opportunities arising from economic reform, privatization, lowered trade barriers, and rapid economic growth. These nations have increasingly used debt and equity securities rather than bank loans to finance economic expansion.

Investors throughout the world share many of the same basic needs and goals as U.S. investors: a comfortable retirement, higher education for their children, and improved living standards. Like their U.S. counterparts, foreign investors are turning to mutual funds as a way to participate in growing securities markets in a diversified manner.

Assets of Open-end Investment Companies
(in millions of U.S. dollars)

Number of Open-end Investment Companies

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