Statement of Additional Information Supplement  September 4, 2019 

Putnam Emerging Markets Equity Fund

Statement of Additional Information dated December 30, 2018

The sub-sections Other accounts managed and Ownership of securities in the PORTFOLIO MANAGER section are supplemented to reflect that the fund’s portfolio managers are now Brian Freiwald and Andrew Yoon. These sub-sections are also supplemented solely with regard to Mr. Freiwald and Mr. Yoon as follows:

Other accounts managed

The following table shows the number and approximate assets of other investment accounts (or portions of investment accounts) that the fund’s portfolio manager managed as of July 31, 2019. The other accounts may include accounts for which these individuals were not designated as a portfolio manager. Unless noted, none of the other accounts pays a fee based on the account's performance.

					Other accounts (including
					separate accounts, managed
			Other accounts that pool		account programs and
Portfolio	Other SEC-registered open-		assets from more than one		single-sponsor defined
managers	end and closed-end funds		client		contribution plan offerings)
	Number		Number		Number
	of		of		of
	accounts	Assets	accounts	Assets	accounts	Assets
Brian Freiwald	0	$0	0	$0	2	$3,700,000
Andrew Yoon	1*	$357,700,000	0	$0	1	$300,000

* 1 account, with total assets of $357,700,000, pays an advisory fee based on account performance.

Ownership of securities

The dollar range of shares of the fund owned by Mr. Freiwald and Mr. Yoon as of July 31, 2019, including investments by immediate family members and amounts invested through retirement and deferred compensation plans, was $0.

9/19