Gold Price Infographic, the 21st Century Gold Rush

Key points

• The dashboard links rising gold prices with central banks adding gold to their reserves from 2000 to mid 2024.
• Its top 10 buyers over that period are Russia, China, India, Turkey, Poland, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Mexico, Qatar and Japan, with Russia and China far ahead of the rest.
• Its map runs from net sales of 588 tonnes to net purchases of 1,913 tonnes, with Canada and several Western European countries among the net sellers.
• The gold price chart is wrong: it peaks near $7,500 an ounce, while the World Gold Council’s average for 2024 was US$2,386 [2]. The creator acknowledged a calculation error [1].

The gold price infographic in text

Title: The 21st Century Gold Rush: Looking Beyond the Dollar? (the title on the graphic includes the colon and question mark).

Introduction: Gold, a safe-haven asset with no yield, serves as a hedge against geopolitical risk. Its value tends to rise when global tensions escalate, and it is regarded by central banks as a reliable store of value during periods of political and financial uncertainty. What then, does it signify that gold prices have been shattering historical records?

Three small charts, 2000 to 2024:

• Price of Gold per Ounce (axis $0.0K to $6.0K, labelled “Quarter of Date (Extract1)”), rising to a final spike above the top of the axis.
• Avg Central Bank Gold Holdings (tonnes), axis 0 to 1,000, dipping in the late 2000s and then rising to the top of the axis.
• Gold as % of total national reserves (average), axis 0% to 20%, rising sharply at the end of the series.

Who Is Driving Demand? Several of the largest purchasers of gold in the 21st century are BRICS nations, emerging economies and global powers increasingly challenging the US-led post-war order. By investing heavily in gold they are hedging against the dollar as a reserve currency and indicating a broader challenge to the dominance of Western institutions. Moreover, for countries with a complicated relationship with the United States, the dollar’s dominance as a reserve currency can be a major inconvenience. In contrast, central bank reserves held in gold are far harder to target with Western sanctions. As the world enters a period of heightened instability, the growing use of gold as a reserve asset is a subtle yet potent symbol of a shifting international order.

Bar chart: Top 10 Countries buy Gold Accumulation (2000 Q1 to 2024 Q2), in tonnes on an axis from 0 to 2,000: Russian Federation, China, India, Turkey, Poland, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Mexico, Qatar, Japan. The bars are not labelled with values. “Select to filter time series to the right.”

Time series: Central Bank gold reserves (All), 2003 to 2023 on the axis, in two panels: % Total Reserves (0% to 20%) and Gold (Tonnes) (0K to 30K).

Map: Gold (tonnes) Accumulated (2000 Q1 to 2024 Q2), shaded from -588 (net sellers, pink) to 1,913 (net buyers, gold), with start and end date selectors. “Hover for detail, and select dates of interest/country to filter charts above.”

Credit: Visualisation by Dominic Brady. Data sourced from the World Gold Council, gold.org/goldhub/data.

What the World Gold Council reported for 2024

The World Gold Council (WGC), the dashboard’s data source, says central banks added 1,045 tonnes to global gold reserves in 2024. That was the 15th year in a row of net buying and the third year in a row above 1,000 tonnes, with 333 tonnes bought in the fourth quarter alone [3].

The largest buyers in 2024 were not the same as the dashboard’s long run leaders [3]:

• The National Bank of Poland was the largest buyer, adding 90 tonnes.
• Turkey’s official reserves rose by 75 tonnes and the Reserve Bank of India bought 73 tonnes, more than four times its 2023 purchases.
• The People’s Bank of China reported buying 44 tonnes and held 2,280 tonnes at the end of the year, about 5% of its total international reserves.
• The Central Bank of Russia added 3 tonnes, which the WGC says was likely for coin minting.

On prices, the WGC says the LBMA gold price set 40 record highs during 2024, with a record fourth quarter average of US$2,663 an ounce and an annual average of US$2,386, up 23% [2].

Notes on this infographic

• Gold price error. The price chart’s final spike is well above its $6.0K gridline, at around $7,500. The WGC’s 2024 average was US$2,386 an ounce [2]. A reader pointed this out on the original post and the creator replied that it “looks like a bad calc” and corrected the interactive version [1]. The image here is the earlier, uncorrected version.
• Unlabelled bars. The top 10 bars have no values. The map legend’s maximum of 1,913 tonnes is the only cumulative figure printed.
• Opinion text. The “Who Is Driving Demand?” paragraphs are the creator’s interpretation, not WGC findings. We reproduce them as printed.
• Dates. The data runs to the second quarter of 2024, so it misses the 333 tonnes central banks bought in the fourth quarter of that year [3].

Questions about central bank gold buying

Which countries have bought the most gold since 2000?

From the first quarter of 2000 to the second quarter of 2024, the top 10 central bank buyers were Russia, China, India, Turkey, Poland, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Mexico, Qatar and Japan, with Russia and China far ahead of the rest. The bars carry no values. The only cumulative figure printed is the map's maximum of 1,913 tonnes of net purchases, while its scale runs down to net sales of 588 tonnes, with Canada and several Western European countries among the net sellers.

How much gold did central banks buy in 2024?

Central banks added 1,045 tonnes to global gold reserves in 2024, according to the World Gold Council [3]. It was the 15th year in a row of net buying and the third year in a row above 1,000 tonnes, with 333 tonnes bought in the fourth quarter alone [3]. The dashboard's data stops at the second quarter of 2024, so it misses that fourth quarter buying.

Which central bank bought the most gold in 2024?

The National Bank of Poland was the largest buyer in 2024, adding 90 tonnes [3]. Turkey's official reserves rose by 75 tonnes and the Reserve Bank of India bought 73 tonnes, more than four times its 2023 purchases [3]. The People's Bank of China reported buying 44 tonnes and held 2,280 tonnes at the end of the year, while the Central Bank of Russia added only 3 tonnes [3].

What was the average gold price in 2024?

The LBMA gold price averaged US$2,386 an ounce in 2024, up 23%, according to the World Gold Council [2]. It set 40 record highs during the year, with a record fourth quarter average of US$2,663 [2]. The dashboard's price chart wrongly peaks at around $7,500, and the creator said it "looks like a bad calc" and corrected the interactive version [1].

Sources

1. Neat_Beyond1106 (Dominic Brady), [OC] Gold Demand in the 21st Century (r/dataisbeautiful post and creator comments, opened 30 October 2026).
2. World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends, Full Year 2024 (5 February 2025).
3. World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends, Full Year 2024, Central banks (5 February 2025).

Last reviewed 30 October 2026