For the eighth year in a row the World Gold Council has worked with YouGov to conduct a survey of central banks. The questionnaire was primarily designed by the World Gold Council with YouGov providing additional design consultation. Once the English questionnaire was approved it was translated into three other languages (Arabic, French and Spanish) in order to make the survey accessible to a wide audience.
The questionnaire was scripted and set up on YouGov’s secure survey system and was thoroughly tested before fieldwork was launched. The World Gold Council was given a test link to ensure it was satisfied with the way the survey had been implemented. Unique, anonymised links were then provided to the World Gold Council to send to their contacts within central banks around the world. Central banks that are under sanctions were not contacted.
Fieldwork was conducted between 25 February and 20 May 2025, with a total of 73 eligible responses (up from 70 last year) representing a 49% response rate amongst all central banks who were contacted. All survey questions were voluntary. As a result, base sizes vary across charts depending on the number of respondents for each question.
The anonymous responses are consolidated by YouGov as follows: data in the report is shown at an overall level but is also sub-divided by advanced economy countries and Emerging Market and Development Economy (EMDE) countries as defined by the IMF. The survey sample is broadly representative of the proportion of advanced and EMDE central banks in the world.
