Global assets under management in thematic exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-trade products (ETPs) dropped by 0.6% during the first two months of the year, the research and consulting firm ETFGI has .

Total assets decreased from $281.81bn at the end of December 2023 to $280.09bn at the end of February 2024, partly due to $1.03bn in year-to-date net outflows.

Despite the drop, total assets were still 47% higher than at the end of 2019.

Eight new thematic ETFs launched in February 2024, bringing the total count to 1,473 ETFs globally, with 2,856 listings, “from 261 providers listed on 48 exchanges in 37 countries,” ETFGI stated. The overall number of ETFs and ETPs has more than tripled since the end of 2019 (+247%).

Amundi, E Fund, Global X, Ishares and UBS each had two of the top 20 thematic ETFs that attracted the most net new assets in February 2024.

ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, and ETPs, or exchange-traded products, automatically track an index or type of financial asset, and can be bought or sold in real time on the stock market. Many investors put their savings in ETFs because they typically have lower management fees. Thematic ETFs focus on a particular sector, such as infrastructure or technology, or trend, such as artificial intelligence or climate action.