Gold has long been viewed as the ultimate financial asset, and never more so than during times of financial crisis such as the current one caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which is why its price has soared to record highs. While we no longer use the ‘Gold Standard’ to determine the value of currencies, the precious metal is still incredibly useful and held by many central banks because it provides stability as it’s not impacted by political changes or economic shocks, plus it’s a liquid asset which means it can be converted to cash if needed. But who has the most stashed away? Using the 2020 World Official Gold Holdings Chart, click or scroll through the top 30 countries that own the most gold as of 31 December 2020.

Sweden isn't an obvious choice as a major player in the gold market, but this Scandinavian country actually owns 125.7 tonnes of gold bars. It doesn't keep all of its stocks on home ground, however. As well as Sweden's central bank – the Riksbank – the country's gold is also reportedly held within the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada, the Federal Reserve Bank in America and the Swiss National Bank.  

Those looking for a secure place to store their gold often settle on Singapore, because the country has not been tarnished by any major corruption scandals, crime is low and so are taxes, plus the costs of gold storage here are incredibly competitive. The country itself has also got a substantial reserve of gold: 127.4 tonnes of the stuff to be precise.

Thailand is stockpiling 154 tonnes of gold, over 20 tonnes more than Singapore. Thailand mines its own gold and the Thai people place a high value on the precious metal. In fact, southeast Asians as a whole are much keener on gold, for jewellery in particular, than people anywhere else in the world.

Venezuela was in the top 20 gold owners until a few years ago. But in a bid to reduce its vast debts and fend off economic crisis it sold off about $1.7 billion (£1.2 billion)-worth of gold in early 2016. In September 2019, it was reported that the country's reserves had fallen to a 75-year low, as the government sold off gold to restructure debt. Venezuela is trying to sell more of its gold reserves to combat the effects of the pandemic by using the money it raises to buy into the United Nations Development Programme, which will allow it to buy more medical equipment, medicines and food. However, the Bank of England, which holds around a third of its gold reserves, has refused Venezuela access amid US sanctions against the South American country. In retaliation, Venezuela launched a lawsuit against the Bank in May 2020 following the Bank's decision not to accept Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela's leader. Venezuela lost the first case, but after it appealed the original ruling was overturned in October. Both parties go back to court for a third time soon...

The north African country of Algeria has over 12 tonnes of gold more than Venezuela, with 173.6 tonnes of the gilded stuff. It also has a strong gold mining tradition, with gold thought to have been mined here on a small scale since pre-Roman times. The government has only recently taken steps to encourage commercial gold mining on a large scale as it's thought that there is a great deal of wealth hidden beneath its soil.

The Philippines is one of Asia's largest gold producers. Although mining is big business here, it's thought that much of its gold remains untapped. Desperately poor locals hoping to get lucky and literally strike gold even undertake dangerous dives in mud-filled swamp mines in search of the precious metal. The country has large reserves of gold already, however, with 188.8 tonnes recorded as being under its ownership.

Belgium is holding on to 227.4 tonnes of gold. Most of this is thought to be held abroad: some in the Bank of England and some in the Bank of Canada. There had been talk of the country looking into repatriating its stocks back to Belgium, but it's thought that the transport and security costs involved in the move were prohibitive and that Belgium was unsure where to store it if it did return to home soil.

Poland has recently been expanding its gold reserves in a bid to protect domestic currency values against the rising dollar, bringing them to their highest level in 35 years at 228.7 tonnes. In November 2019, Bloomberg reported that Poland had transported $5.2 billion (£4bn) worth of Polish-owned gold bars from the Bank of England, where they had been stored since the Second World War to hide them from the Nazis, to secret vaults back in Poland. 

There is another big leap between 22nd and 23rd place with Austria recorded as holding 280 tonnes of gold, more than 50 tonnes more than Poland. Much of its stock was held in the Bank of England, but the Austrian National Bank is said to be working on repatriating much of this back to Vienna so that at least half of Austrian gold is held at home.

Just missing out on the top 20 is Spain, which holds just over a tonne more gold than Austria. Gold mining has been going on in Spain since pre-Christian times and it was the Romans who turned it into a flourishing industry. There is now a renewed interest in Spanish gold with a lot of prospector activity being carried out in the hope of being able to strike it lucky. It's unlikely to impact heavily on the country's gold reserves, however.

It's definitely not the most stable country in the world, but this small Middle Eastern land is rich in gold. Lebanon is currently holding on to 286.8 tonnes of gold and it has the third largest gold reserves in the Middle East. Although Lebanon has a mining industry, gold is not one of its abundant natural resources.

Many countries choose to store their gold in the heavily-fortified Bank of England vault, the second largest in the world after the vault at the New York Federal Reserve. The UK has its fair share of gold reserves too, with 310.3 tonnes of the precious metal held in its name. Despite there being no active gold mines in the UK, it has long been seen as the centre of the wholesale gold market and a major importer and exporter of the metal. However, this is a much-reduced reserve after the nation's Chancellor at the time (and later Prime Minister) Gordon Brown made the controversial decision to sell more than half of the UK's gold reserves – 401 tonnes – for $3.5 billion in 1999, but the price of gold skyrocketed in the years that followed and many consider it was the wrong time to sell.

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The oil-rich country of Saudi Arabia has the second highest gold reserves in the Middle East, with 323.1 tonnes of the precious metal. As part of plans to diversify its economic base and place less of a reliance on oil, Saudi Arabia is also committed to boosting its gold mining industry. Although overshadowed by oil, this is not a new endeavour, as archaeological studies show that gold began being mined in the country up to 5,000 years ago.

A mineral-rich country, Uzbekistan has a wealth of resources including petroleum, natural gas, gold, silver and uranium. As well as being a top producer of the precious metal, the country plans to continue increasing its gold reserves to 430 tonnes by 2024, a further increase of almost 100 tonnes. However, in July last year the country became the world's largest seller of gold as it pinned its hopes of economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic on it. In fact, in the first eight months of 2020 Uzbekistan sold $5.8 billion (£4bn) of gold, nearly a billion dollars more than the $4.9 billion (£3.5bn) it sold throughout the whole of 2019.

Portugal has 382.5 tonnes of gold. However, the country has battled with economic instability and there have been calls for it to sell off some of its gold reserves to reduce its national debt. Regulations make this easier said than done though and for now Portugal is holding on to its precious asset.

Kazakhstan's National Bank increased its gold reserves by more than 100 tonnes in the past three years, in a bid to reduce the country's reliance on the US dollar and neutralise currency risks. And in the months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit it bought up more gold. The land-locked country, which is currently working to develop its gold mining industry through foreign investors and low government regulation, has an impressive 387.9 tonnes in total gold stocks.

Despite being a small island off the coast of China, Taiwan is sitting on 423.6 tonnes of gold, recently increasing its holding slightly.

It's not a country but the European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank of all the European Union countries that have adopted the euro as their currency. It holds 504.8 tonnes of gold in their name, largely as a result of transfers made to the bank by Euro member national central banks at the launch of the Euro. This gold is said to be stored across five locations around the world.

The Netherlands takes the number 12 spot on the World Official Gold Holding Chart with 612.5 tonnes of gold in its stocks. In October 2019, it was reported that the Dutch central bank would be transporting 14,000 gold bars, weighing a total of 175 tonnes, to a temporary location in Haarlem, before being permanently moved to the DNB Cash Centre in Zeist.

India's gold reserves have increased by more than 95 tonnes in the past few years. The country also has high household reserves, particularly in the form of gold jewellery. Although India does have a small gold mining industry, it can't support the national demand and most of its yellow metal is bought in from abroad.

Turkey's gold reserves fell by more than 200 tonnes between 2017 and 2019, from 495.6 tonnes to 293.6 tonnes, but it's been on a buying spree over the past two years due to concerns over its relationship with the US and a year of crisis for the nation's currency, the lira. It now owns 716.3 tonnes, but there are concerns that its gold reserves could soon become a drag, and in March this year President Erdogan called on citizens to invest their gold and foreign currencies in order to prevent the collapse of the lira. Gold is thought to have been discovered in Turkey as early as 9000 BC, but it's only quite recently that it has become of international commercial interest.

Japan holds 765.2 tonnes of gold in stock. It also has its own veins of gold running through its land, which have been mined on a small scale for centuries. Recent exploratory gold searches have proved positive and Japan is now looking to exploit those reserves further.

The gold stocks move into four figures now with Switzerland holding 1,040 tonnes. The majority of this gold is held on home soil, but some of it is stored at the Bank of England and Bank of Canada. In 2014 there was a referendum to decide on whether the Swiss National Bank (SNB) should expand its gold reserves from 7% to 20%. The status quo prevailed and 78% of voters were against the SNB increasing its share.

China has 1,948.3 tonnes of gold in its reserves. It is also the world's biggest gold producer, accounting for 12% of global mine production according to investment manager US Global Investors, and the local demand for gold has been boosted by the burgeoning wealth of its growing middle class.

Russia can’t get enough of this precious metal and has spent $40 billion over the past five years in order to boost its gold reserves, allowing it to overtake China in the rankings and reduce its reliance on the US dollar. Plus, it has a billion-dollar gold mining industry, which means this metal-rich country doesn’t need to rely on imports either.

France has stockpiled 2,436.19 tonnes of gold, much of this reportedly acquired during the 1950s and 1960s. Although some is held abroad, most of this gold is said to be held in vaults under the Banque de France in Paris. A few hundred tonnes of French gold was sold off in the early part of this century, but its stocks have remained stable since about 2009.

Italy holds just slightly more gold than France with 2,451.8 tonnes. Unlike most countries, where the gold reserves are owned by the state and managed by their central banks, Italy’s gold is actually owned by the Banca d’Italia, and held in vaults in Rome and at the Swiss National Bank, the Federal Reserve Bank in New York and the Bank of England. The Italian government made headlines in February 2019 when it said that it would "not sell a gram" of the gold reserves to fill budget holes. 

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a group of 189 countries that work to foster global monetary co-operation. When it was founded in 1944 it was decided that 25% of initial quota subscriptions and subsequent quota increases were to be paid in gold. That remains the main source of the 2,814 tonnes of gold it holds. The coronavirus pandemic boosted the value of the IMF's gold reserves by $19.3 billion (£15.4bn) in just three months (January to April 2020), and led to calls from charity Oxfam to sell some of the gold in order to "expand debt relief and help poor countries fight the virus and save lives". The IMF has sold gold in the past to help poor nations with huge debts, but there are criteria that countries need to meet for such aid to be released.

Germany is the second largest hoarder of gold in the world with 3,362.45 tonnes of it. Concern over its gold falling under Soviet control during the Cold War led to the stockpile being spread around the world. It was thought to be divided between the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, the Bank of England and the Banque de France. Recently, at least half of this bounty has been bought back home to Frankfurt.

The USA is the country with the most gold in the world. It has 8,133.5 tonnes of gold bullion. That's nearly as much as Germany, the IMF and Italy combined. The majority of this gold is thought to be held in depositories across America, such as the United States Bullion Despository, better known around the globe as Fort Knox.

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