About 244,000 metric tons of gold has been discovered to date (187,000 metric tons historically produced plus current underground reserves of 57,000 metric tons). Most of that gold has come from just three countries: China, Australia, and South Africa. The United States ranked fourth in gold production in 2016.All of the gold discovered thus far would fit in a cube that is 23 meters wide on every side.Most of the gold that is fabricated today goes into the manufacture of jewelry, but gold is also an essential industrial metal that performs critical functions in computers, communications equipment, spacecraft, jet aircraft engines, and a host of other products.
The best estimates currently available suggest that around 212,582 tonnes of gold has been mined throughout history, of which around two-thirds has been mined since 1950. And since gold is virtually indestructible, this means that almost all of this metal is still around in one form or another. If every single ounce of this gold were placed next to each other, the resulting cube of pure gold would only measure around 22 metres on each side.
- Jewellery ~96,487t, 45%
- Bars and coins (including gold backed ETFs) ~47,454t, 22%
- Central banks ~36,699t, 17%
- Other ~31,943t, 15%
- Proven reserves ~59,000t