Here are some reasons:

BRICS is home to about 40 per cent of the world’s population and a quarter of global gross domestic product.

More than 40 countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, say South African officials, and 22 have formally asked to be admitted.

They represent a disparate pool of potential candidates motivated largely by a desire to level a global playing field many consider rigged against them.

They are attracted by BRICS’ promise to rebalance world bodies such as the G7, IMF, and World Bank dominated by the United States and other wealthy Western states.

According to DW, countries believe the BRICS could use its weight to bring change in such groups to better reflect the ‘realities of a more multipolar world’.

A piece in The Wire noted that Saudi Arabia wanting to join the bloc would be understandable given its pivot away from the West and its recent act of joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as a dialogue partner.

The piece also noted that such a move would allow it access to emerging markets.

The piece added that for Argentina, being allowed to borrow from the New Development Bank would be a very good reason to join – coming as it does amid the crisis-hit nation struggling to repay the International Monetary fund.

Mihaela Papa, a senior fellow in the Rising Power Alliances Project at Tufts University in the US, told CNN that countries have very different reasons for wanting to join BRICS.

The countries have a range of reasons for applying, from interest in specific economic initiatives such as transitioning to local currencies to “challenging the US. Then there are those who want easier access to China or other BRICS countries or more control during major power tensions and uncertainty.”

“Deciding on expansion means deciding on the future direction of the group,” Papa added.