GLOBAL GOLD HOLDINGS (I have updated the statistics from more recent sources)
Since the beginning of civilisation 166,600 tonnes of gold have been mined, all of which would fit into a 20 meter cubed crate.
The worldwide stock (December 2005) of 153,000 metric tons equivalent to a cube with edge length of almost 20 meters or almost 8,000 cubic meters of pure gold
(approximately 25.5 grams per capita of the world population).
Using this amount of gold (2007 estimate):
28,600 tons (18 %) gold belong central banks and other monetary institutions.
The largest owners of gold (Tonnes) January 2012* are:
USA: 8,133.5
Germany: 3,396.3
International Monetary Fund: 2814.1
Italy: 2,451.8
France: 2,435.4
* This table was updated in January 2012 and reports data available at that time. Data are
taken from the International Monetary Fund's International Financial Statistics (IFS), December
2011 edition, and other sources where applicable. IFS data are two months in arrears, so
holdings are as of November 2011 for most countries, October 2011 or earlier for late reporters.
The table does not list all gold holders: countries which have not reported their gold holdings to
the IMF in the last six months are not included, while other countries are known to hold gold but
they do not report their holdings publicly. Where the WGC knows of movements that are not
reported to the IMF or misprints, changes have been made.
World Gold Holdings (Source: World Gold Council 2008)
Jewellery - 52%
Central Banks - 18%
Investment (bars, coins) - 16%
Industrial - 12%
Unaccounted - 2%
