Gold

France’s gold reserves

The Banque de France stores 2,435 tonnes of gold in its Underground Vault, situated 27 m below street level (or 40 m below the suspended auditorium). These are France’s national gold reserves, valued at around EUR 80 billion.

France’s gross domestic product (GDP) or annual income is over EUR 2 trillion – roughly the same as its public debt. The national gold reserves are thus equivalent to 4% of GDP (and debt) or 15 days of national output. Each French citizen owns, indirectly, 38 grams of gold (2.5 million kilograms of gold divided by 65 million inhabitants), or around 6 “napoleons”.

The total amount of gold in the world – that is all gold that has actually been mined and extracted – is less than 180,000 tonnes or 9,000 m³ (19.5 tonnes/m³). If melted down it would make a cube with sides of 20 m, which would easily fit into the Underground Vault.