The US dollar made up 56.70% of the world's official foreign exchange reserves in the second quarter of 2026. Those reserves are the foreign currency that central banks keep to pay other countries. The dollar's share peaked at 71.40% in the second quarter of 2001.
Dollar holdings still grew, from $1.35 trillion at the end of 2000 to $7.49 trillion in the second quarter of 2026. The share fell because total reserves grew faster, from $1.93 trillion to $13.22 trillion.
What is a reserve currency? A reserve currency is a currency that central banks hold to pay other countries. The US dollar was 56.70% of those holdings in the second quarter of 2026. The euro was 20.60%.
The dollar's share fell from 71.40% in 2001 to 56.70% in 2026, a drop of 14.70 percentage points (the gap between the two shares).
Dollar holdings grew 5.5 times from the end of 2000 to the end of 2025, from $1.35 trillion to $7.43 trillion.
The share is measured in dollars at current exchange rates, so a weaker dollar lowers it even when no central bank sells.
What is a reserve currency?
Foreign exchange reserves are the foreign-currency assets that a central bank or similar authority holds. They are assets such as deposits and securities issued abroad, including US Treasury securities (US government debt). A reserve currency is a currency those authorities hold in size.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) counts these holdings in its survey of the Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER). The IMF says 147 authorities report to it. Reporting is voluntary, while each country's own figures stay confidential. In this article, "reserves" means the COFER measure.
How much of the world's reserves are in dollars?
The dollar's share is the value of reserves held in dollars divided by the value of all reserves. Holdings are reported in US dollars at end-of-period market exchange rates, so both values are in dollars.
Chart 1 plots the share for each quarter from the first quarter of 2000 to the second quarter of 2026. That is 106 quarters.
The window starts in 2000 because the IMF revised its series back to that quarter. The revision removed the "unallocated" category, reserves the IMF could not assign to a currency. Earlier years sit on a different basis.
Source: IMF Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER)
The share was 70.80% in the first quarter of 2000 and peaked at 71.40% in the second quarter of 2001. It reached its low of 56.52% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and stood at 56.70% in the second quarter of 2026. Those are the highest and lowest of the 106 quarters.
From the peak to the second quarter of 2026, the share fell 14.70 percentage points.
The share stayed above 50% in every quarter.
Which currencies make up the rest of reserves?
The table gives the second quarter of 2026. The euro holds 20.60% of reserves, or $2.72 trillion, against the dollar's $7.49 trillion.
Currency | Share of reserves | Amount held |
|---|---|---|
US dollar | 56.70% | $7.49 trillion |
Euro | 20.60% | $2.72 trillion |
Japanese yen | 4.96% | $0.66 trillion |
Pound sterling | 4.57% | $0.60 trillion |
Canadian dollar | 2.47% | $0.33 trillion |
Australian dollar | 2.25% | $0.30 trillion |
Chinese renminbi | 2.11% | $0.28 trillion |
Swiss franc | 0.27% | $0.04 trillion |
Other currencies | 6.06% | $0.80 trillion |
All currencies | 100.00% | $13.22 trillion |
World official foreign exchange reserves in the second quarter of 2026, in US dollars at end-of-period market exchange rates. Source: IMF Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER)
Four currencies can be compared over the full window, because COFER has named them since 1999. The euro's share rose from 17.54% at the end of 2000 to 20.60%. Sterling rose from 3.41% to 4.57%. The yen fell from 6.56% to 4.96%.
The Swiss franc fell from 0.30% to 0.27%.
COFER names the Canadian and Australian dollars only from the fourth quarter of 2012. It names the renminbi only from the fourth quarter of 2016. Before those dates it included them in "other currencies", so the comparison above leaves them out.
Did dollar holdings fall as the share fell?
No. Dollar holdings rose 5.5 times between the end of 2000 and the end of 2025, from $1.35 trillion to $7.43 trillion. Holdings of all other currencies rose 9.8 times, from $0.58 trillion to $5.72 trillion.
Source: IMF Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER)
Dollar holdings peaked at $7.68 trillion in the third quarter of 2021, the highest of the 106 quarters. They slipped to $7.49 trillion in the second quarter of 2026. Holdings of other currencies rose from $5.15 trillion to $5.72 trillion between those two quarters.
The IMF measures every holding in dollars. A holding in euros is therefore worth more dollars when the euro rises against the dollar.
Take a made-up example. A central bank holds $100 billion of reserves, $60 billion in dollars and $40 billion in euros. The euro rises 10% against the dollar, while the bank trades nothing.
Its euros are now worth $44 billion. Its total is $104 billion. The dollar share falls from 60% to 57.7%.
A weaker dollar can therefore lower the dollar's share with no central bank selling anything. A stronger dollar can raise it. The COFER share does not separate those moves from deliberate changes in what authorities hold. Our guide to what moves EUR/USD covers the exchange rate itself.
Why do central banks hold dollars?
A Federal Reserve Board staff note from July 2025 ties the dollar's role to the size and strength of the US economy. It also names the economy's openness to trade and capital flows, plus strong property rights and the rule of law. The note says this leaves US financial markets with unmatched depth and liquidity.
Liquid means a holder can sell in size without moving the price. Two figures show the scale.
The first is the US Treasury market. The US Treasury had $31.83 trillion of marketable securities outstanding at 30 September 2026. Marketable means holders can sell them to other investors. Our explainer on Treasury bills, notes and bonds covers what those securities are.
The second is foreign exchange trading. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) surveys trading every three years, each April. The dollar was on one side of 89% of trades in April 2025. Because each trade has two currencies, the shares of all currencies sum to 200%.
Source: BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey
The dollar's share of trades stayed between 83% and 90% in all 11 surveys on the chart. It was 83% in April 1995, 90% in April 2001 and 89% in April 2025.
How did the US dollar become the reserve currency?
The postwar system placed the dollar at its centre. The July 1944 Bretton Woods conference created the IMF and the World Bank. The IMF was charged with overseeing a system of fixed exchange rates centred on the US dollar and gold, according to the US State Department's Office of the Historian.
Under that system gold was priced at $35 an ounce, a price set by Congress. On 15 August 1971, President Richard Nixon directed the suspension of the dollar's convertibility into gold.
The gold link ended in 1971, while the dollar's reserve role did not. At the end of 2000, 29 years later, the dollar was 69.74% of world reserves.
What does the COFER data leave out?
COFER leaves out gold, Special Drawing Rights (the IMF's own reserve asset) and a country's reserve position at the IMF. Our explainer on why central banks are buying gold covers the part that sits outside the measure.
Reporting is voluntary. For reserves that countries do not report, the IMF estimates the currency split itself. The IMF has published the estimated part since the third quarter of 2025. In the second quarter of 2026 it was 10.58% of total reserves.
The figures here are those in the IMF's release of 30 September 2026. The IMF revises the series, so later releases can change earlier values.
In the IMF's data, the dollar's share of world reserves fell from 71.40% in 2001 to 56.70% in 2026. Its holdings grew to $7.49 trillion.
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Common questions about the reserve currency
What is the world's reserve currency?
The US dollar is the largest reserve currency. It made up 56.70% of world foreign exchange reserves in the second quarter of 2026, according to the IMF's COFER data. The euro followed with 20.60%. A reserve currency is one that central banks and other official bodies hold in size.
Why is the US dollar the reserve currency?
A Federal Reserve Board staff note links the dollar's role to the size of the US economy, openness to trade and capital flows, plus the rule of law. The US Treasury had $31.83 trillion of marketable securities outstanding at 30 September 2026. The dollar is on one side of 89% of foreign exchange trades. The 1944 Bretton Woods system placed it at the centre.
What percentage of reserves are held in dollars?
The dollar was 56.70% of world foreign exchange reserves in the second quarter of 2026. That is down from a high of 71.40% in the second quarter of 2001, the highest quarter since 2000. The IMF measures reserves at market exchange rates, so the share moves with the dollar's value as well as with what central banks hold.
Is gold part of the reserve currency data?
No. The IMF's COFER measure leaves gold out. Gold is a reserve asset but not a currency. COFER counts foreign-currency assets such as deposits and securities. Our explainer on why central banks are buying gold covers the gold side of reserves.
Which currencies are reserve currencies?
The IMF names the US dollar, the euro, the yen and sterling separately, along with the Canadian and Australian dollars, the renminbi and the Swiss franc. In the second quarter of 2026 the shares were 56.70%, 20.60%, 4.96% and 4.57% for the first four.
DISCLAIMER: This article is intended for educational purposes only. Any information or analysis in this note does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Nothing in this note is intended to be investment advice, nor should it be relied upon to make investment decisions. Any opinions, analyses, or probabilities expressed in this note are those of the author as of the note's date of publication and are subject to change without notice.
