NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Emerging-market stocks — generally considered a higher-risk asset — are actually safer than more traditional investments, said Jerome Booth, head of research at Ashmore Investment Management.

In fact, Booth doesn’t just advise committing more of a portfolio to emerging markets. He says investors should put most of their money there.

For many investors who are uncertain whether the current climate requires staying safe or looking for higher returns, that’s a radical notion.

But Booth is making a long-term call based on the demographic and growth advantage of countries considered emerging, but which he said have fewer fiscal strains and less political risk in many cases.

“I’m not saying it’s safe, but it’s safer,” Booth said of emerging markets. Indeed, investors have been pushed around in recent years by big risks in developed markets including the U.S. financial crisis and continuing European sovereign debt problems.

Fear related to those problems has made emerging markets struggle to gain traction among investors. But for those intrepid enough to make the jump, “there are a lot of asset classes that are extremely cheap,” Booth said.

Room for investment

On the whole, American investors seem to keep relatively small proportions of their investments in any emerging-market assets, judging by some proxies.

Just 3.2% of U.S.–based open-ended mutual fund assets fall into the categories one would call emerging markets, according to data from investment researcher Morningstar Inc.

Also, the American Association of Individual Investors’ suggested portfolio allocation to emerging-market stocks is 10% for aggressive investors and 5% for moderate investors.

As for Booth, he personally has 90% of his investments in emerging markets, and considers that perfectly prudent.

While that may sound concentrated, he explained that his portfolio is diversified among numerous countries as well as assets: not just equities but sovereign bonds, corporate bonds — both denominated in U.S. dollars or local currencies — as well as hard assets like infrastructure and real estate, and money markets.

That range of investments is also how Ashmore Investment Management allocates the $60 billion in assets it oversees, including Ashmore Emerging Markets Total Return Fund EMKAX
-0.11% , which has gained 7.1% so far this year.

“People have to get their head around the fact that 85% of the world’s population and 50% of economic activity” is in the emerging markets, Booth said.