Ranked: The World’s Largest Gold Producers (2010 vs. 2025)

Ranked: Countries That Hold the Most Reserves in Gold

Gold remains a major reserve asset for many of the world’s largest economies, but its weight in national reserves ranges from 0% to over 80%.

This graphic ranks selected economies by the share of their central bank reserves held in gold in 2025. The data for this visualization comes from the World Gold Council, based on December 2025 figures.

Gold Dominates Reserves in the U.S. and Europe

Western economies dominate the top of the ranking.

Four countries have roughly four-fifths of their central bank reserves allocated to gold, while the Netherlands rounds out the top five at 72.9%.

China Has More Gold, But a Much Smaller Share

China shows why the size of a country’s gold stockpile tells only part of the story. Gold’s share of reserves also depends on the scale and composition of its other reserve assets.

China holds 2,306 tonnes of gold, the fourth-largest amount in this dataset, but gold represents just 8.6% of its reserves.

Japan has a similar share at 8.7%, despite holding 846 tonnes. India stands somewhat higher at 17.7%, with 880 tonnes in official holdings.

Canada Stands Out With Zero Gold Reserves

Canada sits at the bottom of the ranking with no official gold holdings, despite being a major global gold producer.

The country sold its last remaining gold reserves in 2016, leaving gold at 0% of its central bank reserves.

Canada’s decision to eliminate its gold holdings was decades in the making. After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in the early 1970s, gold no longer played the same role in backing currencies.

Canada gradually shifted its reserves toward foreign government bonds and other financial assets, selling more than 90% of its gold holdings between 1970 and 1980. The federal government formally decided in the early 1980s to continue divesting its gold holdings.

According to Canada’s Department of Finance, high-quality fixed-income securities were considered better suited to the country’s reserve-management objectives because they were more liquid, generated interest income, and reduced volatility compared with gold.

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Ranked: The World’s Biggest Mineral Fuel Producers

Mineral fuels underpin electricity generation, transportation, and industrial activity, but the countries producing the largest quantities vary significantly depending on how output is measured.

This visualization ranks mineral fuel production by country in 2024, based on total production in metric tons. The data comes from the Austrian Ministry of Finance and covers steam coal, coking coal, lignite, petroleum, oil shales, natural gas, and uranium.

Because the ranking measures physical production rather than value or energy content, high-volume commodities such as coal have an outsized influence on the results. This helps explain why several coal-producing economies rank ahead of some of the world’s biggest oil and gas producers.

China Leads the Mineral Fuels Production Ranking

China ranks first with 4.8 billion metric tons of mineral fuel production in 2024, equal to 28.6% of global output. The vast majority of China’s output comes from steam coal and coking coal, which also helps make it the world’s leading mineral producer overall.

The table below shows the mineral fuel production of the leading 25 countries in million metric tons and as a share of the global total:

China produces more than twice as much mineral fuel by weight as the United States, which ranks second at 2.28 billion metric tons, or 13.5% of the global total. Their production mixes differ sharply: coal dominates China’s output, while petroleum and natural gas make up most of U.S. production.

Coal Dominates Three of the Top Five Producers

Following China and the U.S., Russia ranks third with 1.46 billion metric tons of mineral fuels, equal to 8.7% of the global total. Its production mix resembles that of the U.S., with petroleum and natural gas accounting for the largest share.

India ranks fourth with 1.14 billion metric tons, representing 6.8% of global output, with steam coal as its largest mineral fuel category. Indonesia ranks fifth at 921.4 million metric tons, or 5.5% of global output, with steam coal also dominating its production.

Together, China, the U.S., Russia, India, and Indonesia produced 63.1% of the world’s mineral fuels by weight in 2024. China alone accounted for nearly three in every 10 metric tons.

The table below breaks down mineral fuel production for the top five producing countries by fuel type:

Asia-Pacific Produces Half of the World’s Mineral Fuels

At the regional level, Asia-Pacific produced 8.36 billion metric tons of mineral fuels in 2024, equal to 49.7% of global output by weight.

North America ranked second at 2.91 billion metric tons, or 17.3% of the total. The Middle East and Europe followed closely, accounting for 12.9% and 12.5%, respectively.

Saudi Arabia illustrates how measuring mineral fuels by weight can change the ranking. Despite ranking third among crude oil producers, it places seventh here at 594.2 million metric tons, or 3.5% of global mineral fuel output. Coal-heavy countries can rank higher because coal is produced in far greater physical volumes than more energy-dense fuels.

Beyond the largest producers, output drops off quickly. Germany, Poland, and Malaysia each account for less than 1% of global mineral fuel production.

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If you enjoyed today’s post, check out this graphic on the world’s leading coal-producing countries.