Gold Reserves by Country

The main table is the total stock: all official gold reserves a country currently holds. The second table further down is different: net tonnes purchased in the most recent reported quarter, which is a much smaller, faster-moving number. A country can rank high on total reserves while buying nothing that quarter, or vice versa.

Countries report on their own schedule, not a synchronized one: some report monthly, others quarterly, with a lag. The date shown is the most recent figure available for that specific country as of the last data refresh.

Mainly because gold held domestically carries no counterparty risk: unlike a currency reserve, it isn't a claim on another country and can't be frozen or defaulted on. See the full explainer for the data behind this and what it does and doesn't tell you.