Gold, the world’s favorite precious metal, is a global industry. While about 90 countries mine for gold, 75 percent of the planet’s annual gold output comes from 20 countries. No country in the world produces more than about 14 percent of the world’s gold in one year. Here are the 10 top gold-producing countries in the world. All stats come from GoldFacts.org and are from 2011, the most recent year for which GDP stats were available.
1. China: China produces more gold than any other country and its citizens have a voracious appetite for the precious metal. In 2011, China mined 371 tonnes of gold valued at $18.7 billion. In 2013, China officially overtook India as the world’s largest consumer of gold when demand soared by 32 percent. In 2011 China produced 13.16 percent of the world’s gold, accounting for 0.26 percent of its GDP.
2. Australia Gold is $13-billion-plus industry in Australia, the world’s second largest producer. In 2011 it minded 258.3 tones, which equals about 9 percent of the world’s gold production. Australian gold production has shrunk since its heyday in the 1850s after prospectors struck gold there, triggering a gold rush around Victoria in 1851. Australia was producing 40 percent of the world’s gold for a while. 
3. U.S: The U.S. is the world’s third-largest producer of gold. Despite hauling up 232.8 tonnes — or 8.26 percent — of all gold produced around the world in 2011, this still accounted for just a fraction of 1 percent of the country’s GDP — 0.08 percent to be exact. The value of that cache: nearly $11.8 billion.
4. Russia produced 211.9 tonnes of gold in 2011 which accounted for 7.52 percent of world production valued at around $10.7 billion. Gold production accounts for less than 1 percent (0.58 percent) of Russia’s GDP.
5. South Africa: In the 20th century, South Africa dominated when it came to gold production. In 1970, for instance, South Africa accounted for 79 percent of the entire world’s gold output. Today its output is far less substantial. In 2011 South Africa produced 7 percent of the world’s gold when it hauled up 197.9 tonnes of the precious metal valued at nearly $10 billion. Gold accounts for 2.45 percent of South Africa’s GDP.
6. Peru: Peru is the world’s sixth-largest producer of gold. In 2011 it mined 188 tonnes, worth around $9.4 billion, that accounted for 6.67 percent of the world’s production. Though five other countries produce more gold than Peru, gold is more important for Peru’s economy than any other country on this list. It accounted for 5.37 percent of Peru’s GDP in 2011 — the highest percentage of any other country on this list. By comparison, the U.S. produces far more gold than Peru, but gold accounts for less than one tenth of 1 percent of the U.S. GDP.
7. Indonesia: With 111 tones of gold in 2011, Indonesia is the world’s seventh-largest producer of gold, accounting for 3.94 percent of global production. In 2011, it banked $5.6 billion in gold revenue, accounting for 0.66 percent of the country’s GDP.
8. Canada produced around 10.7 tons of gold in 2011. Worth some was $5.4 billion dollars. This accounted for 3.82 percent of the world’s production. Gold accounted for 0.31 percent of the Canada’s GDP in 2011.
9. Ghana: During the colonial era, Ghana’s official name was “Gold Coast” and today it’s still living up to the name. Ghana is the world’s ninth-largest producer of gold, in 2011 pulling 91 tonnes of the precious stuff from the Earth valued at nearly $5 billion. This accounted for almost 12 percent of Ghana’s gross domestic product that year. It represented 3.23 percent of world gold production.
10. Mexico gold production increased by 55 percent between 2008 and 2011. In 2011, Mexico produced 86.6 tonnes of gold – 3 percent of world production – valued at some $4.3 billion.
Sources: GoldFacts.org, The International Business Times, BBC World Service, HistoryToday.com – See more at: http://afkinsider.com/69970/top-10-gold-producing-countries-world/#sthash.jzp6TkxH.dpuf
