VXUS already holds the stocks in VEA

Vanguard Total International Stock ETF AVXUS already holds every stock in Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF AVEA. The choice is whether you also want the emerging markets the total international fund adds.

As of Oct. 18, 2026, AVXUS held every one of the 3,843 stocks in AVEA. The other 1.6% of the developed fund's weight is derivative and swap lines, not missing companies. The largest is a single line, 1.07% of AVEA.

AVEA charges 0.03% and AVXUS charges 0.05%, a gap of 0.02 percentage points, $2 a year on $10,000.

Size does not separate them, and neither does the cost of a trade. AVEA held $231.6 billion and AVXUS held $163.2 billion as of Sept. 30, 2026. Vanguard's 30-day median bid-ask spread was 0.01% for each as of Oct. 16, 2026.

Emerging markets are what the extra fee buys

Both track FTSE all-cap indexes of stocks outside the United States, so both own large, mid-cap and small companies. AVEA, the developed-markets fund, tracks the FTSE Developed All Cap ex US Index. AVXUS, the total international fund, tracks the FTSE Global All Cap ex US Index, which adds emerging markets.

As of Sept. 30, Vanguard reported emerging markets at 26.6% of AVXUS and developed markets at 73.4%. AVEA was entirely developed. On $10,000 in the total international fund, $2,660 is emerging markets the developed fund does not own.

That is why each shared stock is a smaller slice of AVXUS. On the median shared stock, the total international fund held it at 72.5% of the developed fund's weight, close to the 73.4% that is developed markets.

Choosing the developed fund does not drop Korea's chipmakers

FTSE Russell's country classification, published Oct. 6, 2026, lists South Korea as developed and Taiwan as advanced emerging, so Taiwan sits outside the developed index. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the two largest holdings in AVEA, are Korean. Together they were 5.1% of that fund as of Oct. 18.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing was 4.3% of AVXUS as of Oct. 18. Choosing the developed fund drops that company and keeps Samsung and SK hynix.

Taiwan, China and India are the largest markets the total international fund adds. Vanguard's country weights are a share of the stocks, not of the whole fund. As of Sept. 30, those three were 9.3%, 6.9% and 4.3% of the stocks in AVXUS.

The developed fund has led, and the fee did not do it

These are Vanguard's net asset value returns through Sept. 30, 2026, with dividends reinvested.

Through Sept. 30, the developed-markets fund led by 2.28 percentage points over one year and by 0.56 percentage points a year over 10 years. The fee gap is 0.02 percentage points a year, so the fee did not produce that lead. The lead is a stretch in which the developed index beat the broader one, not a forecast that emerging markets will keep lagging.

For a U.S. taxpayer, the worksheet does not pick the fund

Both pay quarterly. Vanguard's dividend yield as of Sept. 30, 2026, was 2.40% for AVEA and 2.36% for AVXUS, which is $240 and $236 on $10,000.

For U.S. taxpayers, Vanguard's latest annual foreign-tax-credit worksheet covers 2025. Qualified foreign dividend income was 66.3% of ordinary dividends for the developed fund and 58.5% for the total international fund. Foreign tax passed through was 6.46% of ordinary cash dividends for AVEA and 7.11% for AVXUS.

Using those 2025 percentages on the Sept. 30, 2026 yields, the developed fund passes through $1.28 less in foreign tax on $10,000, smaller than the $2 fee. It also has $21 more of the dividend in the qualified-foreign column.

Next to the $2,660 of emerging markets on the same $10,000, that reporting difference does not pick the fund. It does not apply in a retirement account, and in a U.S. taxable account it should not override the markets you want.

Own the total international fund unless you have ruled emerging markets out

If this is your fund for stocks outside the United States, and you want that market in one trade, own AVXUS. You pay $2 a year on $10,000 to hold emerging markets at their market weight. For a U.S. investor, that call is the same in a retirement account and in a taxable account.

If you do not want emerging markets, own AVEA. You keep the developed portfolio, including Samsung and SK hynix, and you give up Taiwan Semiconductor, China and India. You also pay less.

If you already hold emerging markets in another fund, own AVEA. The total international fund would count those markets a second time.

Do not buy both unless a smaller emerging-markets stake is what you want. AVXUS already holds the stocks in AVEA, so a mix is a smaller emerging-markets weight than the total international fund alone, not a blend of two different portfolios.