10 countries hoarding enormous mountains of gold

Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann

Say what you want about gold.

But central banks just can’t get enough of the yellow metal.

For the third quarter of 2015, central banks continued to bulk up their gold reserves, adding 175 tonnes to official reserves, according to the World Gold Council.

Although this is a 3% drop year-over-year, it’s important to note that 2014’s Q3 numbers were at a record high of 179.5 tonnes. (So another way of looking at it is that 2015 almost equaled the record amount.)

Total net purchases for the first nine months of the year amounted to 425.8 tonnes. Russia remained the most significant purchaser this year. But China stole the show when, after years of silence, they decided to start reporting changes to their reserves more regularly.

Using the WGC’s data, we put together a list of the biggest gold hoarders out there. Check them out below.