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The total above-ground gold reserves are estimated at 209,000. There are no exact figures, because a significant part of the gold has been preserved for generations in the form of jewellery, coins and ornaments. Also, there are no detailed figures of all the gold that has ever been extracted from the ground somewhere.
More than 95,000 tonnes of all above-ground gold consists of jewellery and other decorations, slightly less than half of all the gold present above ground. Approximately 46,500 tonnes (22%) are held by investors and savers in the form of coins, gold bars and gold in investment products such as ETFs. More than 17% or 35,700 tonnes of gold is in the hands of central banks and institutions such as the IMF and the ECB. A smaller part of more than 31,100 tonnes of gold is used in electronics and other objects, about 15% of the total above-ground supply.
In Western countries, a lot of gold is in the vaults of central banks, while in Asian countries a lot of gold is in private hands. For example, it is estimated that there are more than 20,000 tonnes of gold held by Indian households, about as much as the total gold holdings of the US central bank and all Eurosystem central banks combined.
