Coal reserves

What it is

The U.S. Energy Information Administration, the statistics agency of the United States Department of Energy, publishes international energy data, including each country’s proved coal reserves in tonnes. Our World in Data republishes the series for 2008-2023, last updated on 30 June 2026. Proved reserves are the quantities that geological and engineering information shows can be recovered in the future from known deposits under existing economic and operating conditions.

Why it matters

Reserves show how much coal a country could still mine and burn. In 2023 the largest proved reserves were in the United States (about 248 billion tonnes), Russia (about 162 billion), China (about 157 billion), Australia (about 150 billion) and India (about 128 billion). Together these five held about 72% of the world total of about 1,166 billion tonnes.

How to read it

Each country is shaded by its proved coal reserves in the latest year available, in tonnes. The darker the colour, the larger the reserves. Countries that report no reserves share the lightest shade.

Limits

Countries report their own estimates, so quality and how often they are revised vary. Reserve figures change when prices, mining technology or national reporting change. Coal resources, which also count deposits that would cost too much to mine today, are larger than proved reserves.

Sources

• Our World in Data: Coal reserves (data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration)
• U.S. Energy Information Administration: International energy data, coal and coke reserves
• U.S. Energy Information Administration: Copyrights and reuse

License

Map: Fix Planet, from U.S. Energy Information Administration data, public domain, via Our World in Data, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Boundaries: Natural Earth, public domain.

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