VSGX Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF

© 2023 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Vanguard ETFs as a share class: Vanguard ETFs® (exchange-traded funds) are a class of shares listed for trading on an exchange. The shares are available only through a broker, including Vanguard Brokerage Services®.

Vanguard ETF® Shares are not redeemable with the issuing fund other than in very large aggregations worth millions of dollars. Instead, investors must buy and sell Vanguard ETF Shares in the secondary market and hold those shares in a brokerage account. In doing so, the investor may incur brokerage commissions and may pay more than net asset value when buying and receive less than net asset value when selling.

Total returns: Short-term total return information is provided only as a service. Historical performance—particularly short-term performance—is no guarantee of future returns. Price, yield, and return on an actual investment will fluctuate, and you may have a gain or loss when you sell. Average annual returns include changes in price and reinvestments of dividends and capital gains. Since-inception returns for less than 1 year and year-to-date returns aren't annualized. Index performance is provided as a benchmark but isn't illustrative of any particular investment. You can't invest in an index.

Standardized returns: To see quarterly fee-adjusted returns, refer to the Price & Performance details.

Expense ratios: Expense ratios are displayed on Overview. For investments that are less than 1 fiscal year old, expense ratios are estimated.

Risk: All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest. Funds that concentrate on a relatively narrow market sector face the risk of higher share-price volatility. Investments in stocks or bonds issued by non-U.S. companies are subject to risks including country/regional risk and currency risk.

Important note: The index excludes the stocks of companies that FTSE determines engage in, have a specified level of involvement in, and/or derive threshold amounts of revenue from one or more of the following activities: (i) produce adult entertainment; own/operate adult entertainment establishments; distribute adult entertainment materials; (ii) manufacture alcoholic beverages; supply alcohol-related products/services to alcoholic beverage manufacturers; involved in distribution and/or retail sale of alcoholic beverages; (iii) manufacture tobacco products; supply tobacco related products/services; involved in distribution and/or retail sale of tobacco products; (iv) engage in cannabis cultivation, cannabis distribution, the processing and distribution of cannabis plants, and the creation of cannabis derivative products per the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) standards; (v) own and/or operate a gambling establishment; manufacture specialized equipment used exclusively for gambling; provide supporting products/services to gambling operations; (vi) produce chemical or biological weapons and their components; (vii) produce (or produce specific and critical parts or services for) cluster munitions; (viii) produce (or produce specific and critical parts or services for) anti-personnel mines; (ix) produce nuclear weapons or their components; (x) manufacture military weapons systems and/or integral, tailor-made components of these weapons; provide tailor-made products and/or services that support military weapons; provide non-weapons related tailor-made products and/or services related to the military or defense industry; (xi) produce and sell assault weapons or small arms to civilian customers; produce and sell key components of small arms; involved in the retail and/or distribution of assault weapons or small arms; (xii) involved in the operation and supply of nuclear power generation, that harnesses the energy present within atomic nuclei or their components; engaged in the development, processing, production and distribution of equipment and facilities that are specifically designed for and critical to the generation of nuclear power; (xiii) own proved or probable reserves in coal, oil, or gas; (xiv) any company that FTSE determines per the ICB standards: (a) engages in the exploration for and drilling, production, and supply of crude oil on land or in offshore areas; (b) primarily engages in the refining and marketing of petroleum products; (c) supplies equipment and services to oil fields and offshore platforms; (d) operates pipelines carrying oil, gas or other forms of fuel; (e) engages in all three fields of petroleum production: extraction (upstream), transportation (midstream), and refining and marketing (downstream); or (f) mines, processes and markets coal per the ICB standards; (xv) generate electricity from oil and/or gas, or thermal coal; and (xvi) distribute gas to end users. The level or type of involvement in, or amount of revenue earned from, certain activities or business segments that lead to exclusion by FTSE can vary from one activity or business segment to another. The index methodology also excludes the stocks of companies that, as FTSE determines based on its internal assessment, do not meet certain labor, human rights, environmental, and anti-corruption standards, as well as companies that fail to meet two of the following three diversity criteria: (1) at least one woman on the board; (2) diversity policies in place; and (3) diversity management systems in place. FTSE uses internal methodologies to analyze various factors in determining whether a company meets the foregoing criteria and/or falls within a particular industry, including whether the company has a certain amount of revenue derived from an industry, the company's level of involvement in an industry, and the severity of certain controversies (as determined by FTSE), which can vary from one company to another and from one activity to another.

Vanguard average ETF expense ratio: 0.05%. Industry average ETF expense ratio: 0.22%. All averages are asset-weighted. Industry average excludes Vanguard. Sources: Vanguard and Morningstar, Inc., as of December 31, 2023.

An investment in the fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the fund’s share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the fund’s performance:

• Stock market risk: the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The fund‘s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions. In addition, the fund‘s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
• Investment style risk: the chance that returns from small- and mid-capitalization stocks may be more volatile in price than the large-cap stocks that dominate the overall market, and they often perform quite differently. The stock prices of small and mid-size companies tend to experience greater volatility because, among other things, these companies tend to be more sensitive to changing economic conditions.
• ESG investing risks: The fund is subject to ESG investing risks. The index provider selects securities for the Index based on the ESG criteria disclosed in the fund’s principal investment strategies. Using ESG criteria could result in the fund investing in securities that trail the returns of other funds that use ESG criteria or in the fund underperforming the market as a whole. The index provider’s use of ESG criteria may result in the Index becoming focused, at times, in a particular market sector, which would subject the fund to proportionately higher risks of that sector. Interpretations of what it means for a company or issuer to exhibit ESG characteristics can – and do – vary significantly across individuals, index providers, advisors, and other funds that use ESG criteria. As a result, the fund’s disclosed ESG criteria, or the index provider’s assessment of whether or not a company or issuer meets the fund’s disclosed ESG criteria, may not align with your personal view of what it means for a company or issuer to exhibit ESG characteristics. Further, individual securities held by the fund may not reflect your personal preferences, beliefs, expectations, and/or values. In order to assess a company or issuer against the fund’s disclosed ESG criteria, the index provider depends on the availability of data obtained through voluntary or third-party reporting. There can be no assurance that this data will be accurate, complete, or current, which could result in an inaccurate assessment of a company or issuer.
• Country/regional risk: the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, the fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
• Emerging markets risk: the chance that the stocks of companies located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the stocks of companies located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets.
• Special risks of investing in China: The fund’s investments in companies or issuers economically tied to China are subject to the country/regional, emerging markets, and currency risks described above, in addition to unique risks. Investments economically tied to China are associated with considerable degrees of social and humanitarian, legal, regulatory, political, and economic uncertainty. Risks described above may be more pronounced for the fund. All of these factors, among others, could have negative impacts on the fund. For example, the fund may not be able to access its desired amount of shares of companies incorporated in China that trade on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges (A-shares) and/or the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (H-shares), which may cause the fund to miss out on investment opportunities. Investments economically tied to China may be (or become in the future) restricted or sanctioned by the U.S. government or another government, which could cause these securities to decline in value or become less liquid. If the fund’s holdings become impacted by restrictions or sanctions, the fund may incur losses. Additionally, the fund may gain exposure to certain companies in China through legal structures known as variable interest entities (VIEs), which provide exposure to Chinese companies through contractual arrangements instead of equity ownership. Investing through a VIE does not offer the same level of investor protection as direct ownership and is subject to risks including breach of the contractual arrangements, difficulty in enforcing the contractual arrangements outside of the U.S., and intervention by the U.S. government. These risks could significantly affect a VIE’s market value, which in turn could impact the fund’s performance.
• Currency risk: the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Currency risk is especially high in emerging markets.
• Index sampling risk: the chance that the securities selected for the fund, in the aggregate, will not provide investment performance matching that of the fund’s target index.
• Index-related risks: The fund is subject to risks associated with index investing, which include passive management risk, tracking error risk, and index provider risk. Passive management risk is the chance that the fund's use of an indexing strategy will negatively impact the fund's performance. Because the fund seeks to track the performance of its target index regardless of how that index is performing, the fund's performance may be lower than it would be if the fund were actively managed. Tracking error risk is the chance that the fund's performance will deviate from the performance of its target index. Tracking error risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or under other unusual market conditions. Index provider risk is the chance that the fund will be negatively impacted by changes or errors made by the index provider. Any gains, losses, or costs associated with or resulting from an error made by the index provider will generally be borne by the fund and, as a result, the fund's shareholders.