2026-07-30 · tonnes of above-ground gold
Most gold sits in jewelry — not vaults
People wear more gold than central banks store.
Nearly half of all the gold ever mined is worn as jewelry — 46% of everything above ground, more than private investment and central-bank reserves combined. Because gold is virtually indestructible, almost all of it still exists; the biggest share simply hangs on people rather than sits in vaults.
1 cell = 212 tonnes of above-ground gold (0.1% of above-ground gold stocks) · 1,000 cells
Context
The World Gold Council estimates roughly 212,000 tonnes of gold sits above ground, split into 46% jewelry, 34% private investment plus official holdings, and 20% industry and other uses. That makes jewelry the single biggest gold hoard on Earth — larger than every vault and investment stash combined.
Gold is virtually indestructible, so almost everything ever mined still exists in some form — and about two-thirds of it has been dug up since 1950.
Piled into a single cube, all the gold ever mined would measure only about 22.6 metres on each side — a surprisingly small volume for such a valuable metal.
World Gold Council above-ground stocks split.
Share and export
Credit this grid as Inagrid — https://inagrid.com/e/2026-07-30-gold-reserves