Global Gold Rush

The surge of the precious metal started last year as central banks and investors looked for safe-haven assets amid geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty. While many invested heavily in it, others took advantage of the high price and sold massive amounts, according to data analysed by the team at BestBrokers. We aggregated gold reserves data for each month of 2024 and January 2025 from the World Gold Council and identified the largest net buyers and net sellers of gold.

We also looked at the latest national gold reserves reports as of January 2025 to see how much each nation owns relative to its size. When calculated per capita, the largest gold reserves are currently owned by Switzerland, which has 115.19 grams or 4.6 troy ounces per citizen in its vaults. To represent central banks’ gold holdings as gold coins, Switzerland’s gold is roughly equivalent to more than 366.8 million small, one-tenth-ounce gold coins or nearly 41 coins per citizen.

Here are a few key takeaways from our report:

• The United States has the largest national reserve of gold in the world with 8,133.46 tonnes. However, when its population is taken into account, its gold holdings rank 12th globally with 23.91 grams or 0.84 ounces of gold per citizen. It is equivalent to roughly 8 small, 0.1-ounce gold coins currently worth a total of $2,446.28 (at $2,900 per troy ounce).
• The largest gold reserve per capita is kept by Switzerland, which owns 1,039.94 tonnes of gold or roughly 115.19 grams (4.06oz) of gold per citizen. This amount of gold is equivalent to 41 gold coins currently worth $11,783.50.
• Following Switzerland for the most gold per capita are Lebanon with 18 gold coins per citizen (worth $5,345), Italy (15 coins worth $4,253), Germany (14 coins worth $4,108), Qatar (14 coins worth $4,011), Singapore (13 coins worth $3,727), Portugal (13 coins worth $3,679), France (13 coins worth $3,633), the Netherlands (12 coins worth $3,471), and Austria (11 coins worth $3,114).
• Last year, the demand for gold was led by the central banks of several countries, namely Poland, which increased its gold reserves by 89.54 tonnes, Turkey (74.79 tonnes), India (72.60 tonnes), and China (44.17 tonnes).
• The largest net sellers of gold last year were the Philippines, which sold 29.40 tonnes, followed by Kazakhstan (10.18 tonnes), Singapore (10.08 tonnes), and Thailand (9.64 tonnes).

Several countries have also made purchases of gold in 2025, reporting the changes to their reserves as of January 2025. Last year’s largest buyers are leading the buying frenzy with Uzbekistan topping the list after purchasing 8.1 tonnes of the precious metal in January. China acquired 5 tonnes, followed by Kazakhstan (3.8 tonnes), Poland (3.1 tonnes), India (2.8 tonnes), the Czech Republic (1.7 tonnes), and Qatar (1.3 tonnes).

Several countries also reported selling gold in January 2025. The largest amount, around 3.11 tonnes, was sold by the Russian Federation, followed by Jordan with 2.97 tonnes, and Kyrgyzstan with 1.92 tonnes.

More information about countries’ demand for gold is available in the full report. It includes more details about the latest changes in the official national gold reserves reported to the International Monetary Fund, as well as the complete methodology behind our findings. Feel free to use any data or graphics for publication by providing a link to the original report.