20 Countries with the Highest Gold Reserves in Asia

Last updated on December 19th, 2023 at 12:43 pm

China isn’t just the largest economy in Asia, the country also has the largest gold reserves held and controlled by the People’s Bank of China (PBC).

China’s gold holding at 1,948 metric tons is more than the combined holdings of Japan, India, and Uzbekistan (846, 754, and 337 respectively).

At the G20 level and global ranking, China is 6^th on the gold assets table. The East Asian country, with over 1.4 billion population, is also the world’s second-biggest economy (with nominal GDP totalling approximately US$15.66 trillion as of 2020) after the United States. Gold also forms part of a country’s wealth, anyways.

The third-largest economy in the world, Japan occupies the second position in terms of gold assets with 846 tonnes in the first quarter of 2022.

The second most populous country, India,  increased its gold reserves from 754.10 metric tons in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 760.40 tonnes in the first quarter of 2022, making the East Asian country occupies the third position on the continent in terms of gold assets.

China’s harsh enemy, Taiwan is No. 4 with 424 metric tons. Taiwan is followed by the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan.

While the Central Bank of India increased its gold assets by 6 tonnes within a year, Kazakhstan cut its holding by 34.26 metric tons. The country went from 402.38 tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 368.12 metric tons in the first quarter of 2022, according to WGC data.

The Philippines has the 10th largest gold reserves in Asia.

The table below shows the gold assets of the top 20 countries in Asia (Earth’s largest and most populous continent):