Photographs: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters.
After hitting two-year lows, gold prices are rising again.
The price of standard gold of 99.5 per cent purity rose by Rs 440 to close at Rs 26,700 per 10 gms on Monday from the last closing level of Rs 26,260.
In value terms, gold demand in 2012 was $236.4 billion – an all-time high.
According to the World Gold Council, the global official gold holdings totaled 31,694.8 tonnes as of April 2013.
As gold continues its volatile ride, take a look at countries with the highest gold reserves, according to World Gold Council.
United States (Rank 1)
Official gold holdings: 8,133.5 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 75.1%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Tobias Schwarz/Reuters.
Germany (Rank 2)
Official gold holdings: 3,391.3 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold:: 72.1%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters.
Italy (Rank 3)
Official gold holdings: 2,451.8 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 71.3%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Eric Gaillard/Reuters.
France (Rank 4)
Official gold holdings: 2,435.4 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 69.5%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Bobby Yip/Reuters.
China (Rank 5)
Official gold holdings: 1,054.1 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 1.6%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters.
Switzerland (Rank 6)
Official gold holdings: 1,040.1 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 10.0%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters.
Russia (Rank 7)
Official gold holdings: 976.9 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 9.5%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Yuriko Nakao/Reuters.
Japan (Rank 8)
Official gold holdings: 765.2 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 3.1%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Bobby Yip/Reuters.
The Netherlands (Rank 9)
Official gold holdings: 612.5 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 58.7%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Sivaram V/Reuters.
India (Rank 10)
Official gold holdings: 557.7 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 9.6%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Nicky Loh/Reuters.
Taiwan (Rank 11)
Official gold holdings: 423.6 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 5.4%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters.
Portugal (Rank 12)
Official gold holdings: 382.5 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 89.6%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Turkey (Rank 13)
Official gold holdings: 375.7 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 15.6%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Jorge Silva/Reuters.
Venezuela (Rank 14)
Official gold holdings: 365.8 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 65.4%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Fahad Shadeed/Reuters.
Saudi Arabia (Rank 15)
Official gold holdings: 322.9 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 2.4%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters.
United Kingdom (Rank 16)
Official gold holdings: 310.3 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 15.2%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Jamal Saidi/Reuters.
Lebanon (Rank 17)
Official gold holdings: 286.8 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 28.1%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Majed Jaber/Reuters.
Spain (Rank 18)
Official gold holdings: 281.6 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 28.2%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Reuters.
Austria (Rank 19)
Official gold holdings: 280.0 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 54.7%
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20 countries with highest gold reserves
Photographs: Reuters.
Belgium (Rank 20)
Official gold holdings: 227.5 tonnes
Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 39.1%
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