1.3 quadrillion

That’s a very interesting question! There are different ways to measure how much money is in the world, depending on what kind of money you are counting. If you only count the physical money, such as coins and banknotes, then the answer is about $8.28 trillion U.S. dollars across 20 major countries plus the euro area in 20211. However, this does not include all the money that exists in electronic forms, such as bank accounts, investments, cryptocurrencies, and so on. If you count all the money that is in circulation in the world, including the money in people’s pockets, mattresses, bank vaults, and reserve banks, then the answer is about $21.2 trillion U.S. dollars as of December 20222. This is based on the M2 money supply definition, which includes cash, checking accounts, savings accounts, money market securities, and other types of time deposits. However, if you count all the money that exists in any form, including the money that is not easily accessible or liquid, such as large time deposits, institutional money market funds, and derivatives, then the answer is much larger. According to one estimate, there is approximately $40 trillion U.S. dollars in circulation and more than $1.3 quadrillion U.S. dollars in total global money supply3. This includes all the physical money, electronic money, and virtual money that exists in the world. As you can see, the amount of money in the world depends on how you define and measure it. It also changes over time as new money is created or destroyed by governments, banks, and individuals. Money is a fascinating topic that has many implications for economics, politics, and society. I hope you enjoyed learning more about it! 😊