The USA has the largest gold reserves: 8,133 tons, valued at 628 billion dollars

The price of gold has increased by almost 20% this year, as a result of significant purchases by central banks, but also against the background of solid demand from Chinese consumers and increased interest in safe-haven assets due to geopolitical uncertainties.

A visualcapitalist.com analysis presents a ranking of the top ten countries in the world according to the total gold reserves they hold. The data, related to May 2024, are taken from the World Gold Council.

According to the quoted source, the largest gold reserves are found in the USA, namely 8,133 tons, valued at 628 billion dollars. Half of these reserves are stored in the United States Bullion Depot, known as Fort Knox, a United States Army facility in Kentucky.

Germany ranks second with 3,351 tonnes, followed by Italy with 2,452 tonnes. Italy follows in the ranking, with reserves of 2,452 tons; France, with 2,437 tons; Russia, with 2,336 tons; China, with 2,264 tons; Switzerland, with 1,040 tons; Japan, with 846 tons; India, with 831 tons, and the Netherlands, with 612 tons.

Most of the world's gold is held by central banks, which maintain these reserves due to their safety, liquidity and profitability characteristics. These institutions hold approximately one fifth of all the gold extracted throughout history, according to the cited source.

In the first half of 2024, central banks purchased 483 tons of gold, setting a new record.

Turkey was the biggest buyer of gold in the first half of this year, purchasing a total of 45 tons. India ranked second, with a total purchase of 37 tonnes of gold in the first six months. Traditionally, a major buyer, China, recently slowed its gold purchases, suspending them in May and June. Previously, the Chinese central bank increased its gold reserves for 18 months in a row.

• A gold vault the size of a six-story building opened in Singapore

An enormous safe, the size of a six-story building, was inaugurated last month in the perimeter of Changi International Airport in Singapore, proof of the popularity of holding gold bars, reports Bloomberg, according to Agerpres.

The facility, called "The Reserve", is designed to house 10,000 tonnes of silver, more than a third of the world's annual supply, and 500 tonnes of gold, the equivalent of half of central bank gold purchases in 2023.

Silver Bullion Pte Ltd decided to build the 16,700 square meter facility, which it describes as one of the largest in the world, after its former vault ran out of storage space and claims it is flooded already with requests from potential customers.

"The reaction we received after the conversations was that we need more safes," says the company's founder, Gregor Gregersen.

"The Reserve" is a huge bet on the long-term prospects of holding gold bullion, at a time when gold has hit a new record high of more than $2,500 an ounce and silver has risen more than 20 %.

"People are taking a long-term perspective and are not happy with the way the world is evolving, both economically and politically, and that's why they're increasing their allocations, and in some cases they're starting to make room for gold," says Philip Klapwijk, director at consulting firm Precious Metals Insights Ltd.

Buying gold bullion has some disadvantages: it brings no income and the cost of storing it in vaults, but it eliminates the counterparty risk, which means that gold investments are safe in case another party becomes insolvent.

"Investors, including the ultra-wealthy, reduce their risks to their wealth. And gold is one of the few assets that offers them a deposit of value, without the counterparty risk", says Jeff Christian, partner at the CPM Group investment firm.

As gold bars come into the possession of investors, the need for secure storage solutions has also increased. Customers want to store their gold and silver in private places outside of financial institutions, which offer solutions such as safe deposit boxes, while most Western banks are subject to foreign laws that may not be seen as friendly, says Gregor Gregersen.

The largest gold reserves are held at the Federal Reserve's New York subsidiary, as well as at the Bank of England, both of which hold bullion on behalf of numerous other central banks. According to the information published on its website, 6,331 tons of gold are stored at the New York Federal Reserve, and 5,266 tons of gold were in the vaults of the Bank of England in the city of London at the end of July.

In addition to the two institutions, a number of banks and logistics companies such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., HSBC Holdings Plc, Brink's Co. and Malca-Amit have substantial storage facilities that underpin the derivatives markets in London and New York and hold precious metals for the largest exchange-traded funds (ETFs). For example, in 2021, JPMorgan inaugurated a new silver vault in London, where more than 10,000 tons of silver are now stored for the largest specialized silver ETF, the iShares Silver Trust.

According to Jeff Christian, a lot of non-bank storage spaces are being built worldwide, especially in Singapore. The Asian financial hub offers a stable and neutral regulatory framework, which has allowed it to become one of the first wealth management centers. The city-state also prospered from the problems that arose in Switzerland, which last year had to orchestrate an emergency takeover of the bank Credit Suisse Group AG.

But it's not just Singapore companies that want to protect their gold bullion. Storage facility New Zealand Vault in New Zealand's capital, Wellington, has seen its stock increase and much of the new business has come from firms in Hong Kong and the US. "One of New Zealand's advantages is that we have no natural enemies. We are as far as possible from the hot spots of the world. People look at us as a place of refuge," says New Zealand Vault facility owner and director John Mulvey.