Global gold demand in 2025 reached an all-time high of 5,002 tonnes as well as gold investment which hit US$555 billion according to the World Gold Council’s (WGC) full-year 2025 Gold Demand Trends report release today.
The report attributed record breaking gold prices to investment demand which reached 2,175 tonnes, with investors flying to the safe-haven asset causing a lift-off in prices. Gold ETFs saw inflows of 801 tonnes, with holdings in Asian funds up 97% y-o-y supported by inflows of US$25 billion.
For physical gold, demand totaled 1,374 tonnes or US$154 billion, with two major markets, China and India accounting for more than 50% of demand, posting y-o-y gains of 28% and 17% respectively.
In Southeast Asia, investment demand for gold hit record highs as well in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, with y-o-y increases of 48%, 29%, 37% and 29% respectively. However, demand in Vietnam dropped 14%.
Surprisingly, demand from central banks fell 21% y-o-y to 863.3 tonnes, significantly below the 1,000 tonne market in the three previous years. For Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) sold 15 tonnes of gold in 2025, bringing its total gold holdings to 205 tonnes.
With spiralling gold prices making a dent in affordability, global jewellery demand in terms of weight declined by 18% to 1542.3 tonnes. However, the total value of gold jewellery demand rose y-o-y by 18% to US $172 billion. For Singapore, gold jewellery consumption fell 13% y-o-y, marking its second-lowest annual level on record.
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“We believe gold’s safe-haven and diversification attributes will continue to attract investor interest as we move into 2026,” says Fan Shaokai, head of Asia-Pacific (ex-China) and global head of central banks at the WGC.
A blistering start in January continues gold’s momentum from the last quarter of 2025 which also set the record of around 1,302 tonnes for demand in a quarter.
“With economic and geopolitical instability showing little sign of retreat in 2026, momentum from last year’s strong gold demand is likely to persist,” says WGC senior markets analyst Louise Street.
In the first month of this year, gold flew past US$5,000 per ounce on Jan 26, before further rocketing to over US$5,500 on Jan 29.
