Gold price history
Many people want to know what gold cost a year or five years ago, and what their purchase from back then is worth today. This page answers from one open source: the World Bank monthly commodity price data, known as the Pink Sheet, published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The bank gives the average dollar price of an ounce for every month, and we convert it to riyals, dirhams or the currency of the country you choose, at the same exchange rates used across the site. The calculator assumes you put an amount into 24K gold at the average price of a month you pick, with no making charge or premium, then works out how many grams you bought and their value at the current ounce price. The table below it shows the yearly average since 2016. These are past figures for comparison only; they do not mean gold will move the same way in the coming years.
Worth today
SAR 23,350
133.5% since 2021-09
| Average ounce in 2021-09 | USD 1,775 |
| Ounce now | USD 4,145 |
| Grams bought | 46.73 g |
Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate · Editorial policy
Yearly average ounce since 2016
| Year | Ounce (USD) | 24K gram (SAR) | 24K gram (AED) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 (9 months) | 4,552 | 548.81 | 537.47 |
| 2025 | 3,442 | 414.93 | 406.35 |
| 2024 | 2,388 | 287.86 | 281.91 |
| 2023 | 1,943 | 234.23 | 229.39 |
| 2022 | 1,801 | 217.11 | 212.62 |
| 2021 | 1,800 | 216.97 | 212.48 |
| 2020 | 1,770 | 213.43 | 209.02 |
| 2019 | 1,393 | 167.90 | 164.43 |
| 2018 | 1,269 | 153.03 | 149.86 |
| 2017 | 1,258 | 151.61 | 148.48 |
| 2016 | 1,249 | 150.59 | 147.47 |
The figures above are yearly averages of the monthly prices in the World Bank data; for 2026 they average only the months published so far. To convert to riyals multiply by 3.75, per the Saudi Central Bank; to dirhams by 3.6725, per the UAE central bank.
Reading the calculator
The calculator divides your amount by the average 24K gram price in the month you choose to find how many grams it bought, then multiplies those grams by today’s gram price. The result is a little above reality, because a real buyer paid a premium or making charge and perhaps VAT. To see what those lines do to a purchase today, use the buy and sell gap calculator.
The data licence
The World Bank Data Catalog lists the commodity price data under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence, which allows reuse with credit. That is why we show the averages and name the World Bank with every table.