EWC vs EWU: Which ETF Is Better in 2026?
A metric-by-metric comparison of iShares MSCI Canada ETF (EWC) and iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF (EWU) — both Single Country - Developed funds — using ETFValuer's daily-updated rankings.
Educational content — not financial advice. Data as of July 25, 2026. ~5 minute read.
The Verdict
EWC and EWU compete directly — both are Single Country - Developed funds chasing the same job in a portfolio. That makes this a genuine either/or: the index each tracks, what it costs, and how it has handled drawdowns are what separate them, not the broad exposure they give you.
On ETFValuer's overall model — which blends return, risk-adjusted performance, cost, drawdown, size and volatility — EWC scores higher: 78.0 (Grade B+) versus 67.5 for EWU. That doesn't make EWU a bad fund; it means EWC currently edges it out on this specific mix of factors. Read the metric-by-metric breakdown below before deciding which matters more for your own portfolio.
Head-to-Head: Every Metric
| EWC | EWU | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Single Country - Developed | Single Country - Developed |
| Expense ratio | 0.50% | 0.50% |
| Fund size (AUM) | $6.0B | $3.7B |
| Dividend yield | 1.09% | 1.92% |
| 1-year return | +26.94% | +19.39% |
| 3-year return | +73.18% | +59.29% |
| Volatility | 14.32% | 14.95% |
| Max drawdown | -12.97% | -12.63% |
| Sharpe ratio | 1.53 | 0.96 |
| ETFValuer score | 78.0 | 67.5 |
| Grade | B+ | B |
| Overall rank | #25 | #148 |
Bold marks the better value in each row. "Better" is directional only (e.g. lower cost, higher return) — it isn't a recommendation by itself. See the full methodology.
Cost
On cost, the two are essentially tied — EWC charges 0.50% a year versus EWU's 0.50%. A difference this small (about $0.00 a year on a $10,000 position) isn't a reason to choose one fund over the other.
What EWC's Fees Cost You
EWC charges an expense ratio of 0.50% a year, deducted automatically from the fund's value. Small percentages compound into real money — adjust the figures below to see the impact on your own numbers.
Assumes a constant gross return and no additional contributions — a simplification, but it isolates exactly what the expense ratio costs. Try the full fee calculator to model contributions and compare any two funds.
Performance & Risk
Over the trailing 3 years, EWC returned +73.18% versus +59.29% for EWU — a gap of about 13.9 percentage points. On risk, EWU has held up better historically, with a shallower max drawdown (-12.63% vs. -12.97%). EWC currently has the better risk-adjusted return (Sharpe ratio of 1.53 vs. 0.96), meaning it delivered more return per unit of volatility taken on.
How Closely Do They Track Each Other?
Over the last 3.0 years of daily returns (752 shared trading days), EWC and EWU show a strong correlation of 0.752 — clearly related, with room to diverge. There is some genuine differentiation here, but not enough to call these complementary holdings. Pairing them mostly concentrates risk rather than spreading it.
| Measure | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Daily return correlation | 0.752 | Strong — clearly related, with room to diverge |
| R-squared | 56.5% | 56.5% of EWC's daily moves are explained by EWU's |
| Tracking error (annualised) | 10.45% | Typical yearly spread between the two funds' returns |
| Annualised return over 3.0y | EWC +20.32% · EWU +16.72% | EWC ahead by 3.60 points a year |
Correlation alone understates how far these can drift. Across every rolling 12-month window in the period, EWC finished as much as +17.1 points ahead of EWU at the best extreme and -9.3 points at the worst — a 26.3-point spread between the best and worst year of relative performance. Two funds can correlate tightly day to day and still deliver very different outcomes over any single year you happen to hold them.
Calculated from daily total returns over the trailing 3-year window, recomputed every day this site refreshes. Correlation of 1.00 means the two funds moved in lockstep; 0.00 means their daily moves were unrelated.
Holdings Overlap
EWC and EWU share no companies among their top 10 reported holdings. That points to genuinely different exposure, so holding both is more likely to diversify than to duplicate. Full portfolios may still overlap further down the list.
Based on the top 10 holdings in each fund's most recent SEC N-PORT-P filing.
Which One Should You Pick?
Lean EWC if…
- You care about return per unit of risk — its Sharpe ratio of 1.53 beats 0.96
- You weight recent results heavily — it returned 73.2% over 3 years against 59.3%
Lean EWU if…
- Current income matters to you — it yields 1.92% against 1.09%
Whichever you pick, holding both at full weight is usually the wrong answer — see the overlap and correlation sections above.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is EWC or EWU better?
On ETFValuer's overall model — which blends return, risk-adjusted performance, cost, drawdown, size and volatility — EWC scores higher: 78.0 (Grade B+) versus 67.5 for EWU. That doesn't make EWU a bad fund; it means EWC currently edges it out on this specific mix of factors. Read the metric-by-metric breakdown below before deciding which matters more for your own portfolio.
Which has the lower expense ratio, EWC or EWU?
EWU currently has the lower expense ratio (0.50% vs. 0.50%).
Can I hold both EWC and EWU?
Yes, and it may be worth doing. EWC and EWU correlate at only 0.75 over the past 3.0 years, so they behave differently enough that holding both is a genuine diversification decision rather than a redundant one. Size each to the role you want it to play.
Go deeper on either fund
Full daily-updated metrics, holdings context, and category peers.