The global market for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has continued to grow and new inflows were ten times as high as those for mutual funds, according to figures from Barclays Global Investors (BGI).

Over the first six months of the year ETFs attracted US$49 billion in new inflows, compared to just US$5.3 billion in new inflows for mutual funds.

The global market reached US$891 billion in assets under management at the end of August.

The growth can partly be attributed to the growing interest in index strategies, ETF Securities head of sales for Australia and New Zealand Nigel Phelan said.

"People are going for the transparent, low-cost option, because active management is not generating alpha at the moment," he said.

The global industry is made up of 95 providers, which offer 1773 ETFs in total.

Some funds are listed in several countries, which brings the number of listings to 3137 across 41 exchanges.

Emerging market equity and fixed income ETFs have seen the largest increase in assets, BGI said.

In the eight months to August, emerging market ETF assets grew by US$51.8 billion to US$378.1 billion, while fixed income assets rose by US$41.1 billion to US$144.9 billion.

In Australia, the sector has not seen quite as strong growth, Phelan said.

"They are not as popular [here] as in the US or the UK, but demand is picking up," he said.

BGI owns the world's largest provider of ETFs, iShares, which offers over 360 funds.

BGI is about to change hands after Barclays reached an agreement with BlackRock about the sale of a majority stake in the business.

The deal is expected to be finalised in the fourth quarter of this year.