A gold reserve is the gold held by a national central bank, mostly in a country, intended mainly as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders (e.g. paper money), or trading peers, during the eras of the gold standard, and also as a store of value, or to support the value of the national currency. The World Gold Council estimates that all the gold ever mined, and that is accounted for, totalled 190,040 tonnes in 2019 but other independent estimates vary by as much as 20%. At the price of $144 per gram reached on 25 December 2025, one tonne 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.
IMF holdings Since early 2011, the gold holdings of the IMF have been constant at 2,814.1 tonnes (90.5 million troy ounces).
Officially reported holdings The IMF regularly maintains statistics of national assets as reported by various countries. This data is used by the World 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. In July 2015, the State Bank of Vietnam stated that gold reserves totalled 10 tonnes. However, it was not ranked below due to the current absence of any published data. In 2019, the State 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. However, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan 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 independent audits of their reserves. Gold leasing by central banks could place into doubt the reported gold holdings in the table below. 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. 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.
Notes
See also Gold Reserve Inc. Gold as an investment Federal Reserve Bank of New York Foreign exchange reserves Inflation hedge List of countries by gold production Moscow Gold, the reserves of the Bank of Spain sent to the Soviet Union during the Spanish Civil War Romanian Treasure, the Romanian gold reserves sent (alongside other valuable objects) to Russia for safekeeping during World War I, but never returned Silver as an investment Strategic Petroleum Reserve (United States) United States Bullion Depository, often known as Fort Knox Vaulted gold Gold repatriation
Notes
References
