How much gold is there in the world?

All the gold that has ever been mined weighs together about 220,700 tons, according to the World Gold Council. That is the above-ground stock: nearly all the gold people have dug up through the centuries that still exists, in the form of jewelry, coins, bars and industrial applications. Gold that is still in the ground is explicitly not included here.

So that gold does exist, but it is not yet for sale. In this article you will read how much gold there is worldwide, where all that gold is located, and what the difference is between stock, reserves and available gold. That distinction is often confused.

How much gold is there worldwide?

The total above-ground gold stock is estimated at about 220,700 tons, or roughly 220 million kilograms. This estimate comes from the World Gold Council, which is based on data from, among others, Metals Focus and Refinitiv GFMS. It concerns all the gold that has been mined throughout history and still exists in some form.

The figures below are often mixed up, as they mean different things. They therefore should not be added together.

Reserve and resource figures differ by source (including the World Gold Council and USGS) due to different reference dates, definitions and methods.

How do we know how much gold has ever been mined?

The amount of gold on Earth is an informed estimate, not an exact counted stock. Modern mine production is recorded precisely, but there are no complete figures for gold that was extracted thousands of years ago. Researchers reconstruct that historical production using archaeological and trade data, so the total is rounded to a reliable order of magnitude rather than an exact number.

It is clear, however, that most gold was mined relatively recently: it is estimated that about two-thirds of the current above-ground stock has been produced since 1950. Gold mined earlier almost always still exists, because it does not decay and is almost never discarded due to its value.

A piece of jewelry can be remelted into a coin, and a bar can be re-refined. Read more about the origin of the metal in our article on how gold forms.

Where is all that gold located?

The largest part of the above-ground stock is used in jewelry. The rest is in investment gold, central bank reserves and industrial applications. Because gold is preserved, it mainly shifts from one form to another rather than disappearing.

Investment gold is not only coins and bars in private hands. The physical gold held as backing for listed gold products also counts. An investor in such a product usually owns a financial instrument and not a specific bar; you can read the difference in our explanation of gold ETFs.

Stock, reserves and resources: different figures

Above-ground stock, mine reserves, resources and official gold reserves describe four different quantities. Because these terms are used interchangeably, two figures referring to “the gold stock” can differ greatly without either being wrong.

The above-ground stock is all the gold ever mined that still exists, about 220,700 tonnes. The extractable reserves are known deposits that are economically viable to mine under current conditions; that is not a fixed physical number, because at a higher gold price or with better technology a previously uneconomic deposit may be counted as a reserve, and at higher costs it may no longer be.

Resources are known or suspected deposits about which there is less certainty; part of these may later move into reserves, while another part may never be mined. The official gold reserves, finally, are the gold held by central banks. That gold is already above ground and therefore should not be added to underground reserves.

A country-by-country comparison can be found in our article on the top 10 countries with the most gold reserves.

All the gold ever mined weighs together about 220,700 tonnes and would fit in a cube of roughly 22 meters per side.

Is all existing gold available to buy?

No, only a portion of the gold that exists worldwide is offered for sale at any given time. The above-ground stock is a physical quantity; what actually comes to market is a flow that depends on owners' willingness to sell. Existing gold is therefore not the same as available gold.

Virtually all of this gold exists above ground, but how available it is varies greatly by form:

• Coins and bars: gold coins and gold bars are only available when the owner decides to sell.
• Jewelry: only available after sale or melting down.
• Central bank gold: only after a policy decision by the relevant institution.
• Gold in electronics: only when recovery is technically and economically feasible.
• Gold as ETF backing: is held within the structure of the exchange-traded product.
• Lost or highly dispersed gold: only partially remains and is often barely recoverable.

A wedding ring can remain in a family for generations, central banks sometimes hold gold for decades, and recovering gold from electronics can be more expensive than it yields. Therefore, the total stock says little about how much gold is for sale today.

How does the global gold stock grow?

Only new mine production adds gold to the above-ground stock; recycling does not. Global mining produced about 3,600 tonnes in 2025, increasing the total stock by roughly 1.7% per year. Developing a new mine also takes years, so production cannot quickly respond to changing demand.

Recycling brings existing gold back to the market but does not create new stock. Old jewelry, coins, bars and industrial components are collected, melted down and reused.

How much recycled gold becomes available depends on the gold price, the economy and cultural habits: a higher price can encourage holders to sell, but emotional value or price expectations can delay selling. This distinction is important: recycling increases the annual supply, not the total amount of gold on Earth.

How much gold is still in the ground, and will it ever run out?

Known, economically recoverable gold reserves are estimated at roughly 61,000 to 66,000 tonnes. The World Gold Council cites an estimate around 61,000 tonnes, while the United States Geological Survey arrives at about 66,000 tonnes; the difference arises from different reference dates and methods.

There are also larger resources that are insufficiently explored or not currently economically recoverable.

A simple calculation, reserves divided by annual production, gives roughly sixteen to eighteen years, but that is not a countdown. Reserves constantly change: mining companies find new deposits, gather more accurate data and develop better extraction techniques, while higher costs or stricter regulations can downgrade reserves.

It is therefore more likely that mining will become gradually more difficult and expensive than that gold will suddenly be completely exhausted. Moreover, virtually all above-ground gold persists and part of it can be reused.

How much gold does the Netherlands have?

De Nederlandsche Bank manages on behalf of the Netherlands just over 600 tonnes of monetary gold. That gold is part of the above-ground world stock and is not an underground reserve. Some is stored in the Netherlands and other parts are held abroad.

We have examined the exact size, storage locations and purpose of this stock separately. For that, read our article about how much gold the Netherlands has.

What does the global stock mean for the gold market?

The total quantity of gold alone does not explain the gold price. Gold differs from commodities like oil or gas, much of which disappears after use. With gold, almost all historical production remains. As a result, both new production and shifts within the existing stock play a role, and a change in owners' willingness to sell can have more short-term impact than a change in mine production.

The price moves under the influence of, among other things, demand for jewelry and investment gold, purchases and sales by central banks, interest rate and inflation expectations, the dollar exchange rate, and geopolitical uncertainty. Limited annual growth makes gold physically scarce, but scarcity does not mean the price can only rise; it can move both up and down.

You can read more about that in our article on the influence of interest rates, inflation and geopolitics on the gold price, and you can find the current rate on the gold price page.

From the global stock to physical gold

Physical coins and bars form only a part of all aboveground gold, and every purchase is part of that limited global stock. If you are considering physical gold, you can buy from The Silver Mountain with confidence: we have specialised in physical precious metals since 2008 and, as an AFM license holder, are used to working carefully and transparently.

You can choose from gold coins from recognised mints and gold bars from reputable producers, where the refinery may be listed on the LBMA Good Delivery List; that recognition applies to the refinery and the professional Good Delivery bars.

You can have your order delivered insured via our own delivery service or pick it up by appointment in Baarn and The Hague, with the option for storage via Edelmetaal Beheer Nederland and the sales security of repurchase via sister company Inkoop Edelmetaal.

Conclusion about the total amount of gold: large influence, little metal

There is an estimated roughly 220,700 tonnes of aboveground gold, or about 220 million kilograms, and that fits into a cube of roughly 22 meters on a side. That is nearly all the gold humanity has ever mined, distributed among jewellery, investment gold, central bank reserves and industry. Underground reserves and resources are separate, smaller and variable figures that should not be added to this total.

Not all of that existing gold is available to buy: the market is mainly determined by owners’ willingness to sell, the amount of recycled gold and the limited annual supply from mining. The global gold stock is therefore substantial but grows slowly. That explains part of its lasting appeal, without saying anything about tomorrow’s price.