Monthly forex reserves in 85 countries and territories worldwide 2026

Foreign exchange reserves in selected countries and territories across the world from February 2025 to June 2026

Across 85 countries and territories, China holds by far the largest foreign exchange reserves, about 3.4 trillion dollars in 2026, more than the next four countries combined. Japan is a distant second with about 1.38 trillion dollars. Foreign exchange reserves are the clearest single measure of a country financial firepower, the stock of foreign-currency assets a central bank can deploy to defend its currency, pay for imports and reassure markets, and their distribution across nations reveals the shape of global economic power. The 85 countries and territories in the ranking span every region of the world, from the vast reserves of the Asian export giants to the modest buffers of small open economies, offering a comprehensive picture of how financial resilience is distributed globally. The 85 countries in this ranking together account for the overwhelming majority of all official reserves on earth, so the way their holdings are distributed offers a remarkably complete map of where financial resilience is concentrated and where it is thin.

Together the 85 countries held a record of about 13 trillion dollars in reserves, with the top ten accounting for nearly 70 percent. The ranking extends our development of reserves worldwide overview and our central banks coverage.

China leads by far: China holds about 3.41 trillion dollars in reserves, more than twice second-placed Japan at 1.38 trillion, with Switzerland, India and Taiwan following.

Reserves are the foreign-currency buffers that protect economies from crises, and they are heavily concentrated in Asia, themes our gold as an investment and global stock markets by country coverage explore.

A note on the data. The figures show foreign exchange reserves in 85 selected countries and territories, monthly from February 2025 to June 2026, based on IMF and central bank data, in US dollars. Latest figures are around mid-2026 and exclude gold unless stated. The figures cover foreign-currency assets and generally exclude gold, special drawing rights and IMF reserve positions, focusing on the liquid foreign-currency holdings that central banks actively manage and can deploy quickly in a crisis. All figures are the latest available for each country, mostly from early to mid-2026, and because reporting practices and dates differ slightly between central banks, the ranking is best read as a close approximation rather than a precise league table.

Forex Reserves by Country

The table lists foreign exchange reserves for the largest holders among the 85 countries in 2026. It shows China far ahead, Japan a distant second, and a cluster of Asian and European economies filling out the top ranks. Reading down the table shows the extraordinary gap between China and the rest, with the leader holding more than twice as much as second-placed Japan and more than the combined reserves of the fourth through eighth largest holders. Because reporting dates vary between countries, the exact figures should be treated as approximate, but the broad ranking, with China far ahead and a familiar cluster of Asian and European economies behind it, is well established and stable. The gap between the top of the table and the middle is enormous, with the single largest holder commanding more reserves than dozens of the smaller countries in the ranking put together, a concentration that shapes the entire global financial system.

How Did Reserves Change Month by Month?

Reserves across the 85 countries rose steadily from February 2025 to June 2026, climbing from about 12.5 trillion dollars to a record 13.2 trillion. The gain reflected most large holders adding to their buffers as global conditions stabilised. Tracking reserves month by month rather than year by year captures the near-term dynamics that annual figures miss, showing how the world total edged steadily higher through 2025 and into 2026 as most large holders quietly rebuilt their buffers. The climb from about 12.5 trillion dollars in February 2025 to a record 13.2 trillion by June 2026 was steady and broad-based, interrupted only by minor monthly wobbles driven largely by movements in the value of the dollar. The steadiness of the monthly climb, unbroken by any sharp reversal, suggests a period of relative calm in currency markets, during which central banks were able to add quietly to their buffers without the disruptions that marked earlier years such as 2015 and 2022.

The monthly rise was gradual rather than dramatic, with reserves recovering to record levels after a dip in 2022, a recovery our debt deals by currency coverage frames in the wider dollar system.

A steady climb to a record: total reserves across the 85 countries rose from about 12.5 trillion dollars in February 2025 to a record 13.2 trillion by June 2026.

Some of the month-to-month movement reflects exchange-rate effects rather than active buying, as a weaker or stronger dollar changes the dollar value of reserves held in other currencies, adding noise to the underlying trend.

Which Regions Hold the Most?

Asia-Pacific dominates global reserves, holding about 8.4 trillion dollars, nearly two-thirds of the world total. Europe is a distant second at about 2.7 trillion, followed by the Middle East, the Americas and Africa. The regional breakdown lays bare one of the most striking features of the global economy, the extraordinary concentration of financial reserves in Asia, a direct legacy of the export-led growth model that transformed the region over the past three decades. Asia-Pacific holdings of about 8.4 trillion dollars are more than three times those of Europe, a dominance that reflects the region role as the manufacturing hub of the world economy and the resulting decades of large and persistent trade surpluses. The sheer weight of Asian reserves means that the region central banks are collectively the most important force in global bond markets, their buying and selling of safe assets rippling out to affect borrowing costs for governments and companies everywhere.

The Asian dominance reflects decades of export-led growth and the lesson of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, when countries built reserves as self-insurance, a pattern our ten-year yields by country coverage frames.

Asia dominates: Asia-Pacific holds about 8.4 trillion dollars, nearly two-thirds of the world total, far ahead of Europe at 2.7 trillion and the Middle East at 1.1 trillion.

Europe reserves are spread across many countries, led by Switzerland and Russia, while the Middle East holdings are concentrated in the oil exporters, and the Americas rely heavily on Brazil and Mexico. The thinness of African and Latin American reserves relative to Asia is a reminder that the ability to build large buffers depends on running persistent trade surpluses, something the export powerhouses of Asia have managed but many other regions have not. Taken together, the regional pattern confirms that financial reserves, like manufacturing and trade, have shifted decisively toward Asia over the past generation, leaving the region holding the lion share of the world foreign-currency buffers.

How Concentrated Are Reserves?

Reserves are highly concentrated. China alone holds about 26 percent of the world total, the top ten countries hold nearly 70 percent, and the top twenty hold about 85 percent, leaving the remaining 65 countries to share just 15 percent. The degree of concentration in reserves is remarkable even by the standards of global finance, with a single country holding a quarter of the world total and just ten nations controlling the overwhelming majority of all the foreign-currency buffers on the planet. That the top twenty holders control about 85 percent of all reserves, leaving 65 countries to share the remaining 15 percent, is one of the starkest illustrations of concentration anywhere in the global economy. This extreme concentration is not merely a statistical curiosity, since it means that the stability of the entire global reserve system rests heavily on the decisions of a small number of central banks, above all those of China and the other large Asian holders.

The concentration means that a handful of central banks, above all in Asia, hold the bulk of the world reserves and are among the largest buyers of US Treasuries, a weight our global financial markets coverage frames.

Highly concentrated: China holds about 26 percent of world reserves, the next nine countries about 43 percent, and the rest of the top twenty about 16 percent.

The dominance of a few holders gives them outsized influence over global capital flows, since their decisions about where to invest their reserves can move exchange rates and bond yields around the world. The influence of the largest holders extends well beyond their own borders, since their decisions about which currencies and assets to hold help determine global exchange rates, bond yields and the very structure of the international monetary system.

China: The Reserve Superpower

China is the reserve superpower, holding about 3.4 trillion dollars, more than a quarter of the world total. Its reserves have hovered between 3.2 and 3.4 trillion dollars through 2025 and 2026, built over two decades of trade surpluses. China position at the top of the reserve rankings is one of the defining facts of the modern financial system, a hoard so large that it dwarfs the holdings of every other nation and gives Beijing a unique stake in the stability of the very dollar system it helps to underpin. China roughly 3.4 trillion dollars in reserves has held remarkably steady between 3.2 and 3.4 trillion for years, as the country shifted from rapid accumulation to careful management of a stockpile large enough to weather almost any conceivable shock. The endurance of the China lead, held for well over a decade, reflects the scale of the trade surpluses that built it and the caution with which Beijing now manages a stockpile it regards as a strategic national asset rather than a mere financial buffer.

The scale of the China holdings gives it enormous financial weight, though it has stopped adding to its reserves in recent years and even drawn them down at times, a shift our developed and emerging share price index coverage frames.

Steady near 3.3 trillion: China reserves have hovered between 3.2 and 3.4 trillion dollars through 2025 and 2026, reaching about 3.41 trillion by April 2026.

China reserves are managed to support its currency and are invested heavily in US Treasuries and other safe assets, making the country one of the largest single creditors to the United States government. The role of China as both the largest reserve holder and one of the largest creditors to the United States creates a deep interdependence between the two rivals, binding them together financially even as they compete in almost every other arena. Looking ahead, whether China maintains its commanding lead will depend on its trade balance and currency policy, but its reserves are so far ahead of every rival that its position at the top of the ranking looks secure for the foreseeable future.

Which Countries Have the Deepest Buffers?

The strength of a buffer is measured in months of imports it can cover. Switzerland and Saudi Arabia have the deepest buffers, able to cover 30 to 40 months of imports, while China covers about 16 months and emerging economies often far fewer. Measuring reserves in months of import cover rather than raw dollars gives a truer picture of financial resilience, since it reveals which countries could weather a prolonged loss of export earnings and which are running dangerously thin buffers. Switzerland and the oil-rich Gulf states top the import-cover ranking, able to fund thirty months or more of imports from reserves alone, while some large emerging economies would exhaust their buffers in well under a year of lost export earnings. The import-cover measure also reveals hidden vulnerabilities that the headline dollar rankings conceal, since a country can hold hundreds of billions in reserves yet still run a relatively thin buffer if its economy is large and its import bill correspondingly heavy.

Import cover matters more than the raw dollar figure, since a large economy needs larger reserves, and countries with only a few months of cover are more vulnerable to shocks, a risk our leading financial centres coverage frames.

The deepest buffers: Switzerland and Saudi Arabia can cover 30 to 40 months of imports from reserves, while China covers about 16 months and many emerging economies far fewer.

The oil exporters and financial centres tend to have the deepest buffers relative to their imports, while fast-growing emerging economies often run leaner, relying on capital inflows that can reverse in a crisis. The contrast between the deep buffers of the oil exporters and the leaner reserves of fast-growing emerging economies highlights a fundamental trade-off, between the safety of holding large reserves and the cost of tying up capital that could be invested at home.

Who Gained and Lost Reserves?

Between February 2025 and June 2026, some countries added reserves while others drew them down. Poland and India were among the biggest gainers, adding more than 10 percent, while Russia and Turkey saw their reserves fall. The pattern of gains and losses over the sixteen-month period offers a real-time window into shifting financial fortunes, distinguishing the economies quietly strengthening their buffers from those forced to run them down under currency pressure or sanctions. Poland and India stood out among the gainers, each adding more than a tenth to their reserves over the period, reflecting strong capital inflows and, in India case, a deliberate policy of building buffers against currency volatility. The divergence between the gainers and the losers over the period is a reminder that the reserve rankings, though stable at the very top, are in constant gentle motion below the surface, as the fortunes of individual economies rise and fall with trade and capital flows.

The gainers were mostly economies with strong exports or capital inflows, while the countries that lost reserves often faced currency pressure or sanctions, a divergence our biggest companies by market value coverage frames.

Winners and losers: Poland and India added more than 10 percent to their reserves between February 2025 and June 2026, while Russia and Turkey saw theirs fall.

The changes underline that reserves are not static, rising and falling with trade balances, currency intervention and exchange-rate movements, so the ranking shifts gradually even over a period as short as sixteen months. The reshuffling of the rankings, even over so short a period, is a reminder that reserves are a living measure of a country external position, responding continuously to the ebb and flow of trade, capital and currency markets. Whether the recent broad-based rebuilding of reserves continues will depend on the health of global trade and the path of the dollar, but the trend through mid-2026 has been one of steady accumulation across most of the largest holders.

Reserves: February 2025 vs June 2026

Comparing February 2025 with June 2026 shows most large holders adding reserves. India rose from about 0.63 to 0.70 trillion dollars, Japan from 1.27 to 1.38 trillion, and Switzerland from 0.74 to 0.80 trillion, while a few others slipped. The before-and-after comparison over sixteen months strips away the day-to-day noise and reveals the underlying direction, showing a broad-based rebuilding of reserves among the largest holders that lifted the world total back to a record. The gains were widespread among the top holders, with India, Japan and Switzerland all adding meaningfully to their reserves, a collective rebuilding that pushed the world total to its highest level ever by the middle of 2026.

The gains among the top holders lifted the world total to a record, showing that the accumulation of reserves, though slower than in the 2000s, has resumed in recent years, a trend our short-term interest rates worldwide coverage frames.

Most holders gained: India rose from about 0.63 to 0.70 trillion dollars, Japan from 1.27 to 1.38 trillion, and Switzerland from 0.74 to 0.80 trillion.

The before-and-after comparison also shows how stable the ranking is, with the same handful of countries at the top in both periods, even as their exact holdings shifted by tens of billions of dollars. The stability of the top of the ranking, with the same familiar names in the same order across both periods, underscores how durable the distribution of reserves has become, anchored by structural trade patterns that change only slowly.

The World Total and China Share

As the world total climbed toward 13.2 trillion dollars, China share held steady at about 25 to 26 percent. The country remains the anchor of the global reserve system, its holdings dwarfing those of every other country. Watching the world total and the China share side by side reveals an important truth about the reserve system, namely that its growth has been broad-based rather than driven by any single country, even as one nation continues to dominate the rankings. The China share of the world total held steady at around 25 to 26 percent throughout the period, a striking constancy that shows how the growth in global reserves was shared broadly rather than concentrated in the largest holder.

The steadiness of the China share, even as the total grew, shows that reserves rose broadly across many countries rather than being driven by any single holder, a balance our federal funds rate coverage frames.

China holds a quarter: as the world total climbed toward 13.2 trillion dollars, China share held steady at about 25 to 26 percent throughout the period.

That one country holds a quarter of all the world reserves is a remarkable concentration, giving China a unique position in the global financial system and a powerful stake in the stability of the US dollar.

How Much the Top Holders Control

The concentration of reserves is stark. The single largest holder, China, controls about 26 percent of the world total, the top five about 52 percent, the top ten about 69 percent, and the top twenty about 85 percent of all reserves. The concentration data expose the uneven distribution of financial power with stark clarity, showing that the vast majority of the world foreign-currency buffers are held by a small club of export powerhouses and financial centres. The single largest holder controlling a quarter of all reserves, and the top five controlling more than half, represents a concentration of financial power that has few parallels in any other measure of the global economy. The concentration of reserves mirrors the concentration of economic and financial power more broadly, with the same handful of export powerhouses and financial centres dominating reserves, trade surpluses and cross-border lending alike.

This means the remaining 65 of the 85 countries share just 15 percent of the world reserves between them, a concentration our largest asset managers coverage sets against the wider financial system.

Held by the few: the top holder controls about 26 percent of world reserves, the top five 52 percent, the top ten 69 percent, and the top twenty 85 percent.

The heavy concentration reflects the uneven distribution of trade surpluses and financial power, with a small group of export powerhouses and financial centres holding the vast majority of the world foreign-currency buffers. The stark concentration of reserves in a handful of countries is ultimately a mirror of the concentration of global trade surpluses, since only nations that persistently export more than they import can accumulate large foreign-currency buffers over time.

Forex Reserves in Numbers

A few numbers capture the picture. Across 85 countries, China holds about 3.4 trillion dollars in reserves, Japan 1.38 trillion, the top ten nearly 70 percent of the world total, and all 85 together a record of about 13 trillion dollars. Together these figures make the ranking of reserves one of the most revealing maps of the global economic order, charting the rise of Asia, the dominance of China, and the modest buffers held by most of the world other economies.

The figures matter because reserves are the buffers that protect economies from crises and anchor the global monetary system, a role our financial markets in the US coverage sets in context.

Together these figures show a reserve system heavily concentrated in a few Asian economies, led overwhelmingly by China, with the vast majority of countries holding only modest buffers by comparison.

Forex Reserves by Country: The Big Picture

Taken together, the ranking of foreign exchange reserves across 85 countries maps the distribution of financial power in the world, dominated by China and the export economies of Asia, a picture our crypto market coverage sets against newer assets.

Whether the smaller holders can build deeper buffers and whether China keeps its commanding lead will shape the resilience of the global economy, but reserves remain the foundation of financial stability, alongside the markets in our debt capital market and money market fund overviews.

Frequently Asked Questions: Forex Reserves by Country