A record 45% of global central banks plan to increase their gold holdings over the next 12 months, up from 43% in 2025, according to the World Gold Council’s 2026 Central Bank Gold Reserves Survey published Tuesday. The findings underscore unprecedented official confidence in bullion, with 89% of reserve managers projecting total global central bank gold stockpiles will rise in the coming year and just 1% expecting to trim their own positions.
Fielded between February 5 and May 19, this year’s survey drew responses from 76 central banks — the highest participation level in the report’s nine-year history. Most submissions arrived after the outbreak of the latest Middle East conflict, framing the results against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical risk. The WGC noted the climbing response rate is itself evidence that gold has moved further to the forefront of official reserve strategy.
Official-sector demand has served as a solid pillar of support for gold prices, which scaled all-time highs earlier this year. Over the past four years, central banks have purchased an average of 1,000 tonnes of gold annually — double the pace of the preceding decade. In a landmark shift for global finance, gold recently overtook U.S. Treasuries as the world’s largest reserve asset, marking a dramatic reorientation of how sovereign institutions manage national wealth.
“Central banks are still very positive on gold. In fact, more positive than ever,” said Shaokai Fan, Global Head of Central Banks at the World Gold Council. Recent geopolitical tensions have not altered central banks’ long-term assessment of the metal, he added, but have instead amplified its strategic value as a crisis buffer and geopolitical hedge.
Reserve diversification remains the primary driver of purchases, cited by 31 of the 34 central banks planning to raise allocations. A record 90% of respondents highlighted gold’s performance during periods of crisis as a core reason to hold it, while 84% emphasized its role as a long-term store of value and inflation hedge, and 83% pointed to its portfolio diversification benefits.
The survey reinforces expectations of a sustained reshaping of the global reserve landscape. Some 74% of respondents anticipate the U.S. dollar’s share of global reserves will decline over the next five years, compared with 84% who expect gold’s share to grow. The proportion of other major currencies such as the euro and renminbi is forecast to remain largely unchanged over the same horizon.
While emerging-market central banks continue to lead buying activity, appetite is broadening well beyond developing economies. The survey found 18% of advanced-economy central banks also intend to add to their gold reserves in the year ahead. New entrants including Indonesia, Malaysia, Guatemala and El Salvador have either entered the market or resumed purchases after years of inactivity, widening the base of official-sector demand.
On funding for new acquisitions, half of respondents said they would source gold through domestic purchase programs in local currency, while 38% plan to sell existing reserve assets to finance buying.
In storage strategy, the Bank of England remains the most popular vaulting location at 57%, followed by domestic storage at 49% and the Bank for International Settlements at 16% — a slight uptick from 2025. Central banks are also diversifying their storage footprint at a faster pace: 9% expanded domestic storage and 10% diversified overseas vault locations in the past 12 months, up from 5% and 2% respectively the prior year. Further adjustments along those lines are planned for the coming 12 months.
