Gold Reserves by Country

Which countries have the most gold?

Gold Reserves By Country 2018 – Top 40

Below are charts showing the gold reserves by country* as reported by the World Gold Council.

Updated October 3, 2019

2019 Gold Reserves By Country*

The Top Twenty

Russia has the fifth largest gold reserves of any nation.

*country= the central bank of each country, not the total gold that may be in a particular country or total gold under country’s governmental control.

The chart shows gold reserves by country and indicates that the United States is the largest holder of gold in the world. In the last few years Russia and China have increased their gold reserves significantly. The chart shows China to have the sixth largest holdings of the yellow metal with 1,828 tonnes. Even after China updated their official gold holdings in July of 2015, and again in August of 2015, many suspect that China has far more gold than they have reported.

Click here for an explanation on where China’s gold might be.

Click to see gold reserves per capita by country.

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Chinese gold mining production is the largest in the world.

While Russia and China have been increasing their gold reserves, Western nations, like Cyprus have contemplated sales of their gold. Indeed, the European Union is considering ending a fifteen year restriction on central bank gold selling.

For monthly updates on Chinese and Russian gold reserves:

Chinese Gold Reserves (monthly archive)

Russian Gold Reserves (monthly archive)

Keep in mind that the gold reserves reported by the World Gold Council are probably subject to adjustment as many central banks are suspected of overstating (United States) or understating their gold reserves. Some countries (Germany) may claim certain gold reserves but may not have physical possession of those reserves. In addition, it is also suspected that gold held by central banks may have been lent or rehypothicated such that they may no longer either have the physical gold or only have a claim on it.

With the potential for currency wars between the Russia and the United States, Russia has been steadily building their gold reserves, while the United States tapered and ended their multi-year/multi-trillion dollar printing quantitative easing scheme and talked about raising interest rates.

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The Top Eleven – Twenty

Notable changes over the past year: Venezuela’s gold sales caused it to drop from the top twenty, while Turkey moved into the top ten. Kazakhstan moved up to 15th place past the United Kingdom.

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Gold reserve data from the web sites of the central banks, gold charts r us and other publicly available sources.

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