As of February 2021, countries around the world together held 35,218 tons of gold reserves, up from 34,700 tons a year earlier. Countries hold gold reserves to support their currencies in times of hyperinflation or other economic crises.
Gold reserves as an important part of a country’s international reserve assets, the amount of its reserves are related to a country’s foreign economic and trade creditworthiness. It in the stability of the national economy, curb inflation, improve international credit and other aspects have a special role. This role is quite significant in both developed and developing countries.
Over the past 10 years, central banks have purchased large amounts of gold, helping to keep gold prices at high levels. But the record-breaking buying boom paused in 2020, when gold prices soared to record highs and a viral epidemic caused economic stagnation around the world. in the third quarter of 2020, some countries opted to sell some of their gold reserves, with central banks becoming net sellers.
However, this trend appears to be rapidly reversing. The World Gold Council released a report saying that global central banks were net buyers of gold in February of this year. The largest purchaser of gold was India, which bought 11.2 tons of gold.
Krishan Gopaul, senior analyst at the World Gold Council, said on April 7 this year, “We expect central banks to be net buyers in 2021, but the near-term outlook for central bank demand remains delicately balanced.”
Despite the fact that gold reserves are a luxury that every country would like to have in storage, fewer than 100 countries worldwide have significant gold reserves. Five countries hold the majority of the world’s 35,000 tons of gold reserves. Only 34 countries in the world have more than 100 tons of gold reserves.
To determine the countries that control the world’s gold, Wall St. 24/7 reviewed World Gold Council data on gold reserves by country (tons) as of February 2021.
Not surprisingly, many of the countries on that list rank among the richest in the world. Here are the top five countries with the largest gold reserves in the world.
- United States
Gold reserves as of February 2021: 8,133.5 tons
Dollar value: $500 billion
Gold as a percentage of total foreign exchange reserves: 77.5%
GDP: $20.5 trillion ($62,530 per capita)
Population: 328.2 million
- Germany
Gold reserves as of February 2021: 3,362.4 tons
Dollar value: $206.7 billion
Gold as a percentage of total foreign exchange reserves: 74.5%
GDP: $4.5 trillion ($53,785 per capita)
Population: 83.1 million
- Italy
Gold reserves as of February 2021: 2,451.8 tons
Dollar value: $150.7 billion
Gold as a percentage of total foreign exchange reserves: 69.3%
GDP: $2.6 trillion ($42,420 per capita)
Population: 60.3 million
- France
Gold reserves as of February 2021: 2,436.3 tons
Dollar value: $149.8 billion
Gold as a percentage of total foreign exchange reserves: 64.5%
GDP: $3.1 trillion ($46,110 per capita)
Population: 67.1 million
- Russia
Gold reserves as of February 2021: 2,295.4 tons
Dollar value: $141.1 billion
Gold as a percentage of total foreign exchange reserves: 22.0%
GDP: $4.0 trillion ($27,044 per capita)
Population: 144.4 million
The sixth through tenth ranked countries and their gold reserve numbers are China (1,948.3 tons), Switzerland (1,040.0 tons), Japan (765.2 tons), India (687.8 tons) and the Netherlands (612.5 tons).
Taiwan ranks 12th with 423.6 tons of gold reserves.
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