How Many Gold In The World

Financial concept

For private and state holdings in golden, see Gold holdings.

A
gold reserve
is the gold held by a national central depository financial institution, intended mainly as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders (e.thousand. newspaper money), or trading peers, during the eras of the golden standard, and also equally a store of value, or to support the value of the national currency.

The World Gold Quango estimates that all the gilt ever mined, and that is accounted for, totalled 190,040 metric tons in 2019^[1]
but other independent estimates vary by as much equally 20%.^[two]
At a price of US$1,250 per troy ounce ($xl per gram), reached on 16 August 2017, one metric ton of gold has a value of approximately $40.2 million. The full value of all gilded always mined, and that is accounted for, would exceed $7.5 trillion at that valuation and using WGC 2017 estimates.^{[note one]}

Wartime relevance

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During most of history, a nation’s aureate reserves were considered its key financial asset and a major prize of war.

A typical view was expressed in a secret memorandum past the British Main of the Purple Full general Staff from October 1939, at the beginning of World War II. The British Military machine and the British Secret Service laid out “measures to be taken in the event of an invasion of Holland and Belgium past Frg” and presented them to the War Cabinet:

It volition be for the Treasury in collaboration with the Banking concern of England, and the Foreign Office, to examine the possible means of getting the bullion and negotiable securities into the aforementioned place of rubber. The transport of many hundreds of tons of bullion presents a difficult problem and the loading would accept a long time. The ideal would of form be to have the gold transferred to this state or to the United states of america of America. […] The gold reserves of Kingdom of belgium and Holland amount to about £70 million and £110 million respectively. [Human foot]Notation: H. Chiliad. Treasury has particularly requested that this information, which is highly confidential should in no circumstances be divulged. The total weight of this bullion amounts to about 1800 tons and its evacuation would be a matter of the utmost importance would present a considerable trouble if it had to be undertaken in a bustle when transport facilities were disorganized. At present this gold is believed to be stored at Brussels and The Hague respectively, neither of which is very well placed for its rapid evacuation in an emergency.^[3]

The Belgian government transferred ane-third of its gold reserves to the Britain, another tertiary to Canada and the United States and most of the remainder to southern France. Post-obit the outbreak of war, the gold held in France was sent to Dakar, the upper-case letter of Senegal, so role of the French colonial empire. This was against the Belgian Government’s wishes, with the Belgians having directed the French to transfer it to the U.s.. Afterwards the Germans occupied Belgium and French republic in 1940, they demanded the Belgian gold reserve held in Senegal. In 1941, Vichy French officials arranged the transport of four,944 boxes with 198 tonnes of gold to officials of the German Reichsbank and the High german Government used it to purchase commodities and munitions from neutral countries. The Banque de France fully compensated the Belgian National Bank for the loss of its gold afterward the war.^[4]

IMF holdings

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Since early on 2011, the gold holdings of the International monetary fund have been abiding at 2,815 tonnes (ninety.5 1000000 troy ounces).^[five]

Officially reported holdings

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The International monetary fund regularly maintains statistics of national assets as reported by various countries.^[six]
This data is used past the World Gilded Council to periodically rank and report the gold holdings of countries and official organizations.

On 17 July 2015, China appear that information technology increased its gilt reserves by most 57 percent from ane,054 to 1,658 tonnes, while disclosing its official gold reserves for the first fourth dimension in half-dozen years.^[7]
[8]

In July 2015, the Country Banking company of Vietnam stated that gold reserves totalled x tonnes. However, it was not ranked below due to the current absence of any published information.

In 2019, the Country Oil Fund of the Republic of azerbaijan (SOFAZ) extended the gold allocation limit from five% to 10%, in accordance with the amendments made to the Investment Policy of the Fund for diversification purposes.^[9]
However, the Key Banking company of Republic of azerbaijan does not hold whatsoever gold.

The gold listed for each of the countries in the table may non be physically stored in the country listed, as central banks generally accept not allowed independent audits of their reserves. Gold leasing past primal banks could place into doubt the reported golden holdings in the tabular array below.^[x]

Acme 50 according to World Gold Council’s latest rankings (as of February 2022)^[xi]
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Rank	Country/Arrangement	Gold holdings (in metric tons)	Gold’due south share of forex reserves
ane	Usa	8,133.5	66.3%
2	Germany	3,359.1	66.0%
3	Italy	2,451.viii	62.9%
4	French republic	two,436.4	57.8%
5	Russia	ii,298.5	21.iv%
half dozen	Red china	one,948.3	3.3%
7	Switzerland	1,040.0	5.6%
8	Japan	846.0	three.5%
nine	India	785.35	6.9%
10	Netherlands	612.5	55.iv%
—	European Central Bank	504.eight	34.iii%
11	Taiwan	423.six	4.3%
12	Kazakhstan	402.4	68.3%
thirteen	Turkey	394.2[a]	23.9%
14	Portugal	382.vi	68.9%
15	Uzbekistan	362.0	59.seven%
16	Saudi arabia	323.1	3.9%
17	United Kingdom	310.iii	9.3%
18	Lebanon	286.eight	46.ix%
xix	Espana	281.6	17.eight%
20	Austria	280.0	48.0%
21	Thailand	244.2	5.8%
22	Poland	230.8	8.1%
23	Kingdom of belgium	227.iv	31.eight%
24	Algeria	173.6	xviii.0%
25	Venezuela	161.ii	82.ix%
26	Philippines	155.iv	8.5%
27	Singapore[xiv]	153.7	2.1%
28	Brazil	129.7	two.1%
29	Egypt	125.9	N/A
xxx	Sweden	125.7	11.8%
31	South Africa	125.3	12.6%
32	Mexico	119.9	3.three%
33	Libya	116.6	viii.4%
34	Hellenic republic	114.i	46.5%
35	South korea	104.iv	1.3%
36	Romania	103.half-dozen	eleven.1%
—	Banking concern for International Settlements	102.0	—[b]
37	Republic of iraq	96	viii.8%
38	Republic of hungary	94.5	13.vii%
39	Australia	79.viii	8.i%
40	Kuwait	79.0	9.ii%
41	Indonesia	78.vi	3.1%
42	Kingdom of denmark	66.5	4.seven%
43	Pakistan	64.vi	18.0%
44	Argentina	61.7	9.5%
45	Qatar	57.4	7.8%
46	United Arab Emirates	55.4	2.iv%
47	Belarus	53.iv	36.7%
48	Cambodia	50.4	fourteen.4%
49	Finland	49.0	17.1%
l	Jordan	43.v	16.2%

• Notes

See besides

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• Gold Reserve (visitor)
• Gold equally an investment
• Federal Reserve Depository financial institution of New York
• Foreign commutation reserves
• Aggrandizement hedge
• List of countries past gold product
• Moscow gold, the reserves of the Banking concern of Spain sent to the Soviet Union during the Spanish Civil State of war
• Romanian Treasure, the Romanian golden reserves sent (alongside other valuable objects) to Russian federation for safekeeping during World State of war I, simply never returned
• Silver as an investment
• Strategic Petroleum Reserve (United States)
• U.s. Bullion Depository, often known as Fort Knox
• Vaulted gold

Notes

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References

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