World Reserves

Strategic resource holdings by country — the assets that shape geopolitics. Compiled from authoritative public sources (BP, World Gold Council, USGS, IMF, IAEA). Reserve estimates have wide error bars and update annually; figures are rounded for clarity.

Proven Crude Oil Reserves

Estimated crude oil reserves recoverable with current technology. Venezuela leads on paper but most of its reserves are extra-heavy oil that requires expensive processing.

Unit: billion barrelsSource: BP Statistical Review of World EnergyAs of: 2024Top 15 total: 1,616 billion barrels

Venezuela

303.818.8% share

Saudi Arabia

267.216.5% share

Iran

208.612.9% share

Canada

170.310.5% share

Iraq

1459.0% share

United Arab Emirates

1116.9% share

Kuwait

101.56.3% share

Russia

805.0% share

Libya

48.43.0% share

#10

United States

47.12.9% share

#11

Nigeria

36.92.3% share

#12

Kazakhstan

301.9% share

#13

China

261.6% share

#14

Qatar

25.21.6% share

#15

Brazil

14.90.9% share

Natural Gas Reserves

Proven natural gas reserves. Russia, Iran and Qatar together hold over half of the world's known gas reserves.

Unit: trillion m³Source: BP Statistical Review of World EnergyAs of: 2024Top 15 total: 185.1 trillion m³

Russia

47.825.8% share

Iran

3418.4% share

Qatar

24.713.3% share

United States

17.79.6% share

Turkmenistan

13.67.3% share

China

8.44.5% share

Venezuela

6.33.4% share

Saudi Arabia

63.2% share

UAE

5.93.2% share

#10

Nigeria

5.53.0% share

#11

Algeria

4.32.3% share

#12

Iraq

3.61.9% share

#13

Mozambique

2.81.5% share

#14

Australia

2.41.3% share

#15

Egypt

2.11.1% share

Central Bank Gold Reserves

Official gold holdings by central banks. The US still holds nearly twice as much as the next-largest, Germany.

Unit: tonnesSource: World Gold CouncilAs of: Q2 2024Top 15 total: 26,489 tonnes

United States

8,13430.7% share

Germany

3,35312.7% share

Italy

2,4529.3% share

France

2,4379.2% share

Russia

2,3368.8% share

China

2,2648.5% share

Switzerland

1,0403.9% share

Japan

845.93.2% share

India

840.83.2% share

#10

Netherlands

612.52.3% share

#11

Turkey

584.92.2% share

#12

Taiwan

422.41.6% share

#13

Poland

4201.6% share

#14

Portugal

382.61.4% share

#15

Uzbekistan

365.11.4% share

Foreign Exchange Reserves

Total foreign currency reserves held by central banks. China and Japan dominate, while several oil exporters punch above their economic weight.

Unit: USD billionSource: IMF / national central banksAs of: Q1 2024Top 15 total: 9,982 USD billion

China

3,20132.1% share

Japan

1,25112.5% share

Switzerland

8698.7% share

India

6456.5% share

Russia

5976.0% share

Taiwan

5655.7% share

Saudi Arabia

4374.4% share

Hong Kong

4254.3% share

South Korea

4194.2% share

#10

Brazil

3543.5% share

#11

Singapore

3223.2% share

#12

Germany

2973.0% share

#13

United States

2442.4% share

#14

United Kingdom

1952.0% share

#15

UAE

1611.6% share

Coal Reserves

Recoverable coal reserves. Despite the energy transition, the US, Russia, Australia, China and India together hold over 75% of the world's coal.

Unit: million tonnesSource: BP Statistical Review of World EnergyAs of: 2024Top 15 total: 1,017,849 million tonnes

United States

248,94124.5% share

Russia

162,16615.9% share

Australia

150,22714.8% share

China

143,19714.1% share

India

111,05210.9% share

Indonesia

38,8413.8% share

Germany

35,9003.5% share

Ukraine

34,3753.4% share

Poland

28,3952.8% share

#10

Kazakhstan

25,6052.5% share

#11

Turkey

11,5251.1% share

#12

South Africa

9,8931.0% share

#13

Brazil

6,5960.6% share

#14

Canada

6,5820.6% share

#15

Colombia

4,5540.4% share

Lithium Reserves

Recoverable lithium reserves — the foundation of the battery and EV revolution. The 'lithium triangle' of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, plus Australia, dominates supply.

Unit: million tonnesSource: US Geological Survey (USGS)As of: 2024Top 13 total: 25.88 million tonnes

Chile

9.335.9% share

Australia

6.224.0% share

Argentina

3.613.9% share

China

311.6% share

United States

1.14.3% share

Canada

0.933.6% share

Brazil

0.391.5% share

Zimbabwe

0.311.2% share

Portugal

0.271.0% share

#10

Bolivia

0.230.9% share

#11

Mali

0.210.8% share

#12

Mexico

0.180.7% share

#13

Germany

0.160.6% share

Uranium Reserves

Recoverable uranium reserves (cost <USD 130/kgU). Australia and Kazakhstan together hold almost half the world's economically extractable uranium.

Unit: thousand tonnes USource: NEA/IAEA Uranium Red BookAs of: 2022Top 14 total: 5,811 thousand tonnes U

Australia

1,68429.0% share

Kazakhstan

90115.5% share

Canada

58010.0% share

Russia

4808.3% share

Namibia

4708.1% share

South Africa

3205.5% share

Niger

3115.4% share

Brazil

2764.7% share

China

2243.9% share

#10

Mongolia

1442.5% share

#11

Uzbekistan

1322.3% share

#12

India

1212.1% share

#13

Ukraine

1081.9% share

#14

United States

601.0% share

Rare Earth Element Reserves

Critical for magnets, EVs, wind turbines and electronics. China dominates both reserves and processing capacity — a major strategic concern for Western governments.

Unit: million tonnes (oxides)Source: US Geological Survey (USGS)As of: 2024Top 11 total: 115.41 million tonnes (oxides)

China

4438.1% share

Vietnam

2219.1% share

Brazil

2118.2% share

Russia

108.7% share

India

6.96.0% share

Australia

5.74.9% share

United States

1.81.6% share

Greenland

1.51.3% share

Tanzania

0.890.8% share

#10

Canada

0.830.7% share

#11

South Africa

0.790.7% share

Note: Reserve figures are estimates from official sources and update annually. Definitions differ between resources — "proven" oil reserves require existing infrastructure to be economic, while lithium and uranium reserves include identified deposits recoverable at current prices.