Agold reserve is thegold held by a nationalcentral bank, intended mainly as a guarantee to redeem promises to paydepositors, note holders (e.g.paper money), or trading peers, during the eras of thegold standard, and also as astore of value, or to support the value of the nationalcurrency.
TheWorld Gold Council estimates that all the gold ever mined, and that is accounted for, totalled 190,040metric tons in 2019[1] but other independent estimates vary by as much as 20%.[2] At the price of $144 per gram reached on 25 December 2025, one metric ton of gold has a value of approximately $144 million. The total value of all gold ever mined, and that is accounted for, would exceed $27 trillion at that valuation and using WGC 2017 estimates.[note 1]
Since early 2011, the gold holdings of theIMF have been constant at 2,814.1 tonnes (90.5 million troy ounces).[3]
The IMF regularly maintains statistics of national assets as reported by various countries.[4] This data is used by theWorld Gold Council to periodically rank and report the gold holdings of countries and official organizations.
On 17 July 2015, China announced that it increased its gold reserves by about 57 percent from 1,054 to 1,658 tonnes, while disclosing its official gold reserves for the first time in six years.[5][6]
In July 2015, the State Bank ofVietnam stated that gold reserves totalled 10 tonnes. However, it was not ranked below due to the current absence of any published data.
In 2019, theState Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) extended the gold allocation limit from 5% to 10%, in accordance with the amendments made to the Investment Policy of the Fund for diversification purposes.[7] However, the Central Bank ofAzerbaijan does not hold any gold.
The gold listed for each of the countries in the table may not be physically stored in the country listed, as central banks generally have not allowed independentaudits of their reserves.Gold leasing by central banks could place into doubt the reported gold holdings in the table below.[8]
Note that while Russian gold reserves are listed as 2,332.7 tonnes, of the 405.7 tonnes held by the National Wealth Fund at the beginning of the war, only 173.1 remained as of November 2025.[9] From November Russia started selling physical NWF gold on the internal gold market, whereas it had previously sold it to the Central Bank, to maintain NWF liquidity while preserving physical reserves.[9]
| Rank | Country/Organization | Gold holdings (in metric tons) | Gold's share of forex reserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States | 8,133.5 | 77.8% |
| 2 |  Germany | 3,350.2 | 77.5% |
| — | International Monetary Fund | 2,814.0 | —[a] |
| 3 |  Italy | 2,451.8 | 74.2% |
| 4 |  France | 2,437.0 | 74.9% |
| 5 |  Russia | 2,332.7 | 29.5% |
| 6 |  China | 2,298.5 | 6.7% |
| 7 |  Switzerland | 1,039.9 | 9.6% |
| 8 |  India | 880.0 | 13.9% |
| 9 |  Japan | 845.9 | 6.8% |
| 10 |  Turkey | 634.7 | 50.1% |
| 11 |  Netherlands | 612.4 | 68.0% |
| 12 |  Poland | 550.0 | 28.0% |
| — |  European Central Bank | 506.5 | 33.9% |
| 13 |  Taiwan | 422.4 | 4.7% |
| 14 |  Portugal | 382.6 | 84.2% |
| 15 |  Uzbekistan | 364.5 | 79.1% |
| 16 |  Saudi Arabia | 323.1 | 4.7% |
| 17 |  United Kingdom | 310.2 | 16.5% |
| 18 |  Kazakhstan | 306.1 | 62.0% |
| 19 |  Lebanon | 286 | - |
| 20 |  Spain | 281.5 | 25.4% |
| 21 |  Austria | 279.9 | 68.6% |
| 22 |  Thailand | 234.5 | 9.4% |
| 23 |  Belgium | 227.4 | 49.2% |
| 24 |  Singapore | 204.1 | 5.1% |
| 25 |  Algeria | 173.5 | 23.0% |
| 26 |  Brazil | 172.4 | 6.5% |
| 27 |  Venezuela | 161.2 | 83.0% |
| 28 |  Libya | 146.6 | 15.5% |
| 29 |  Philippines | 129.7 | 12.9% |
| 30 |  Egypt | 128.5 | 23.7% |
| 31 |  Sweden | 125.7 | 19.2% |
| 32 |  South Africa | 125.4 | 19.3% |
| 33 |  Mexico | 120.1 | 5.0% |
| 34 |  Qatar | 116.1 | 22.2% |
| 35 |  Greece | 114.5 | 61.3% |
| 36 |  Hungary | 110.0 | 21.0% |
| 37 |  South Korea | 104.4 | 2.1% |
| 38 |  Romania | 103.6 | 13.8% |
| — |  Bank for International Settlements | 102.0[b] | —[a] |
| 39 |  Australia | 79.8 | 13.1% |
| 40 |  Kuwait | 79.0 | 10.0% |
| 41 |  Indonesia | 78.6 | 3.6% |
| 42 |  United Arab Emirates | 74.5 | 2.6% |
| 43 |  Jordan | 72.8 | 33.6% |
| 44 |  Denmark | 66.5 | 4.1% |
| 45 |  Pakistan | 64.7 | 30.1% |
| 47 |  Argentina | 61.7 | 16.3% |
| 48 |  Belarus | 53.8 | 49.3% |
| 49 |  Serbia | 53.1 | 23.4% |
| 50 |  Finland | 43.7 | 22.5% |
| 51 |  Bulgaria | 40.8 | 9.0% |
| — | World | 35,938.6[c] | 15.2% |
| — | Euro area (including the ECB) | 10,812.3 | 56.4% |