Central Banks Increase Gold Reserves in Last Three Years

Central banks across the world have accumulated over 1,000 tons of gold in each of the last three years, up significantly from 400 tons to 500 tons average over the preceding decade, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Tuesday.

In its latest survey entitled 2025 Central Bank Gold Reserves (CBGR), WGC said that this marked acceleration in the pace of accumulation has occurred against a backdrop of geopolitical and economic uncertainty, which has clouded the outlook for reserve managers and investors alike.

The survey, conducted between 25 February and 20 May, helped them to shine a light on the continued importance of gold reserve management in these challenging times, WGC said.

This year, WGC set a new benchmark, drawing in 73 responses, the highest since the survey commenced eight years ago. The sample is highly representative of the overall central bank community, both geographically and in terms of gold owned.

“The increase in participation is not just a number; it is a powerful signal of engagement with gold amongst the central banking community. These responses add depth to our insights into and understanding of gold’s role within reserve management,” WGC said.

Similar to findings from previous surveys, the central banks continue to hold favourable expectations on gold and the respondents overwhelmingly (95%) believe that global central bank gold reserves will increase over the next 12 months. 

This year, a record 43% of respondents believe that their own gold reserves will also increase over the same period. Interestingly, none of the respondents anticipate a decline in their gold reserves, the survey findings showed.

Key Themes

Gold’s performance during times of crisis, portfolio diversification and inflation hedging are some key themes driving plans to accumulate more gold over the coming year. In addition, gold’s unique characteristics and role as a strategic asset continue to be valued by central banks: its performance in times of crisis, ability to act as a store of value, and its role as an effective diversifier, continue to be cited as key reasons for an allocation to gold.

The majority of respondents (73%) see moderate or significantly lower USD holdings within global reserves over the next five years. The respondents also believe that the share of other currencies, such as the euro and renminbi, as well as gold, will increase over the same period.

The survey highlighted an uptick in respondents who actively manage their gold reserves, from 37% in 2024 to 44% in 2025. While enhancing returns remained the primary reason for this, risk management leapfrogged tactical trading as the second most selected reason.

The Bank of England remains the most popular vaulting location for gold reserves amongst respondents (64%) and a significantly higher percentage of respondents reported some domestic storage of gold reserves this year than they did last year (59% in 2025 vs 41% in 2024).

Just 7% of respondents indicated that they plan to increase domestic storage of gold reserves over the next 12 months, WGC said.