21 Best-Performing International ETFs: Ex-U.S., Regional and Single-Country

International stocks have been thriving in 2025, but buying individual stocks from other countries isn’t always easy. One workaround is an international stock ETF — an exchange-traded fund that does the work of researching and investing in foreign stocks for you.
But what kind of international ETF may be best for you? They come in a few different varieties, including global “ex-U.S.” ETFs, continent-specific or regional ETFs, and single-country ETFs. Below, we’re taking a look at the differences between these categories, and some of the best performers from each.
Top 7 best-performing ex-U.S. ETFs
Ex-U.S. ETFs are the broadest category of international ETFs — they’re funds that invest in global stocks, but exclude American stocks, hence “ex-U.S.” Below are the seven best-performing ex-U.S. ETFs in the last year.
Source: Finviz. Data is current as of June 2, 2025, and is intended for informational purposes only.
Top 7 best-performing regional ETFs
Regional ETFs invest in stocks from a specific grouping of countries, such as Latin America. Many invest in stocks from a specific continent, such as Africa, Asia or Europe. Below are the seven best-performing regional ETFs in terms of one-year returns.
Franklin FTSE Eurozone ETF | ||
Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Europe Equity ETF | ||
Global X FTSE Southeast Asia ETF | ||
JPMorgan BetaBuilders Europe ETF |
Source: Finviz. Data is current as of June 2, 2025, and is intended for informational purposes only.
Top 7 best-performing single-country ETFs
Then there are single-country ETFs, which, as their name implies, exclusively invest in stocks from a specific non-U.S. country. Below are the seven single-country ETFs with the highest one-year returns.
Global X MSCI Argentina ETF | ||
Franklin FTSE Germany ETF | ||
iShares MSCI Singapore ETF | ||
Source: Finviz. Data is current as of June 2, 2025, and is intended for informational purposes only, not for trading purposes.
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Neither the author nor editor owned positions in the aforementioned investments at the time of publication.
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