We have just seen gold prices bottom out to scarily low levels in such a short time and the safe haven investment that is gold has proven that it is anything but safe. But what is the actual world gold value? How much has the total value of all above-ground gold actually dropped?
How much gold is in the world
According to Thomson Reuters GFMS, who produce an annual gold survey, there is approximately 171,300 tonnes of pure gold which has been mined in the whole world.
Not everybody agrees with the GFMS figures and there are other estimates flying about ranging between 155,244 tonnes and 2.5 million tonnes.
What is the world Gold value?
Let us assume that the Thomson Reuters figure of 171,300 tonnes is correct. 171,300 tonnes is the same as 171,300,000 kilos.
The world gold price as published by the London Bullion Market Association today (16th April 2013) shows the following AM Fixes in US Dollars, British Pounds and Euros. Prices are shown in Troy Ounces and Kilos.
So if we multiply 171,300,000 by the total value for 1 kilo of gold, we should get the current world gold value!
| Tuesday 16th April | USD | GBP | EUR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Troy Ounce | $1,378.00 | £900.477 | €1054.000 |
| 1 Kilo | $44,303.70 | £28,950.99 | €33,886.86 |
| 171,300,000 Kilos | $7.589 Trillion | £4.959 Trillion | €5.805 Trillion |
What was the world gold value one week ago?
The table below shows exactly the same data below as above, but for the London Bullion Market AM Fix for Wednesday 10th April – Exactly 1 week ago.
| Wednesday 10th April | USD | GBP | EUR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Troy Ounce | $1,581.50 | 1,032.243 | €1,207.160 |
| 1 Kilo | $50,846.37 | £33,187.36 | €38,811.07 |
| 171,300,000 Kilos | $8.710 Trillion | £5.685 Trillion | €6.648 Trillion |
This means that in the past 7 days, the world’s gold value has been wiped by a massive $1.12 Trillion US Dollars, or 726 Billion Pounds or 843 Billion Euros!
