Top Ten Largest Gold Bullion Reserves

The largest gold holdings in tonnes as reported by the World Gold Council

Gold reserves (or gold holdings) are held by central banks as a store of value.  The top 10 Central Bank reserves total 26,014.4 tonnes, or in excess of 836,362,960 troy ounces, equal to about 836.4 Billion dollars.

As one metric tonne equals 1,000 kilograms (or 32,150 troy ounces), one tonne of gold equates to a value of US$32.15 million as of March 2008 ($1,000/troy ounces). In 2001, it was estimated that the total amount of gold ever mined equaled only 145,000 tonnes, with a total value at today’s prices of some US$4.66 trillion.

For comparison, the entire global market capitalization for all stock markets was US$43.6 trillion in March 2006.

Side Notes:

• If gold jewelry were taken into consideration and not just Bank Reserves, India would be the country with the most gold contained within it’s borders, estimated to be over 13,000 tonnes.

• Also, It is also not clear whether the International Monetary Fund gold reserve is the property of the IMF or of member countries.
• About one percent of all above-ground gold (370 metric tonnes) was mined in the first five years of the California Gold Rush (worth approximately US$11.9 billion at March 2008 prices).