How Much Gold Exists for Every Person on Earth?
February 12, 2025
By Pallavi Rao
Graphics/Design:
See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.
Explainer: How Much Gold Exists for Every Person on EarthThis was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Desired for millennia because of its shine and rarity, gold is still the safe haven asset (with fairly decent returns) in times of uncertainty.
This chart examines a hypothetical question of how much gold there is in the entire world for every person. It divides all known reserves by current global population.
Data for this graphic is sourced from the U.S. Geological Survey and from the UN’s World Population Prospects 2024.
There’s Not a Lot of Gold for 8 Billion PeopleTurns out, there really isn’t a lot of gold in the world.
To date, only 244,000 metric tons of gold have ever been discovered. This includes historical production and current known discoveries.
That works out to about 30 grams (about one troy ounce), or six gold rings, for every single human being on the planet.
CategoriesFigures|
Gold Discovered
(Metric Tons) | 244,000 | | World Population | 8,161,972,572 | Gold per Person
(Metric Tons) | 0.00002989 | Gold per
Person (Grams) | 29.89 (or about 1 troy oz) |
Jewelry isn’t the only use of gold (though it does account for the largest share of above-ground use).
Central banks have quite a bit in their reserves, with the U.S. holding the most at roughly 8,000 tonnes. At sixth place China (2,200 tonnes) has been steadily increasing its reserves in the past year, in a bid to diversify foreign exchange reserves away from the U.S. Treasury bonds.
Largest Gold Producers
And then there’s all the gold beneath the ground, spread out in massive mines across the world. Of them, Australia is home to two in the top 10, and is also the second-largest producer.
Who’s the largest producer? That’s China—even though it doesn’t have any large mines on the same scale as those found in the U.S. and Australia. Instead it has numerous smaller ones, and coupled with efficient smelting infrastructure, ends up producing more volume.
Finally, South Africa held the top supplier spot between 1900–1970. Its production peaked at about 1,000 metric tons annually, the most by any country in a single year. |
