Silver added to the US Critical Minerals List in November 2025 (Federal Register 90 FR 50494). The designation reflects silver's irreplaceable role in photovoltaics, electronics, and defence applications, and the US's 77% net import reliance on foreign supply.
Silver has been in structural deficit for four consecutive years. Mine supply cannot keep pace with record industrial demand driven by solar PV, EVs, and AI infrastructure.
World mine production in 2024: 25,300 metric tons (813 Moz). Over 60% is extracted as a byproduct of lead-zinc, copper, and gold mining, so silver supply is partly driven by those markets.
| # | Country | Share of output | Output (t) | Reserves (t) |
|---|
More than two-thirds of world silver comes as a byproduct of base-metal mining. Mexico's dominance (23% share) partly reflects its massive lead-zinc-gold-silver polymetallic deposits. Peru holds the world's largest known silver reserves (110,000 t) and ranks third in output. Russia (92,000 t reserves) and Australia (109,000 t reserves) are the sleeper reserve stories: both hold more reserves than Mexico, but produce less, suggesting long mine lives and potential growth headroom.
Total demand fell 3% to 1,162.5 Moz in 2024, but industrial demand hit a record 680.5 Moz for the fourth year running. Solar photovoltaics now accounts for 29% of all industrial silver demand, up from 11% in 2014.
Each standard solar panel contains around 18g of silver for electrical contacts. Global solar capacity additions are accelerating, making PV the fastest-growing silver application. Silver loadings per panel are falling, but panel volumes are rising faster.
EVs use roughly twice the silver of an ICE vehicle, mainly in onboard electronics and ADAS (advanced driver-assistance) systems. Each EV requires around 25-50g of silver. Rising EV penetration is a structural demand tailwind through the decade.
Data centres and power grid upgrades use silver in electrical contacts, connectors, and switches. The AI compute build-out is generating an unexpected new demand stream for silver that didn't exist at scale two years ago.
From 2021 onward, global silver demand has consistently outpaced combined mine output and recycling. The four-year cumulative deficit (2021-2024) reached 678 Moz, equivalent to roughly 10 months of global mine supply.
Four-year deficit total: 678 Moz (21,088 metric tons). This represents about 10 months of 2024 mine production absorbed by demand with no matching supply response. The deficit was forecast to narrow to 117.6 Moz in 2025, but structural demand drivers (solar, EVs, AI data centres) are not slowing down.
Annual average silver prices, USD per troy ounce. The 2025 average of $38.00/oz was 34% higher than 2024, driven by the continuing supply deficit and silver's addition to the US Critical Minerals List.
Year low. Opened 2025 near 2024 average levels.
Year high on 13 Nov 2025. Price increased for 11 consecutive months. Supply deficit cited as primary driver.
Full-year average, +34% above 2024. US Critical Mineral designation in November amplified investor attention.
Mexico supplies 47% of US silver imports (2021-24 average), making bilateral trade policy a material supply-chain risk. Canada contributes 18%, Chile and Turkey 5% each.
Annual world silver mine production (25,300 metric tons in 2024) is tiny relative to base metals, but it underpins technologies that run the modern world. Here is what that tonnage means in physical terms.
Melted down and poured into a 50m x 25m x 2m Olympic pool, the entire world's 2024 silver mine output would fill 96% of it. Silver's density (10.49 g/cm3) means 25,300 tonnes occupies only ~2,413 cubic metres. A reminder that this is the metal behind every solar panel, smartphone screen, and EV circuit board on the planet.
At 0.3g of silver per device, annual mine output could supply the silver for 84 billion smartphones. Earth's entire population uses about 6.8 billion active smartphones today.
A standard 60-cell panel uses around 18g of silver for electrical contacts. Annual mine output could supply the silver for roughly 1.4 billion panels, more than double global annual installations in 2024.
The world extracts roughly 0.8 kilograms of silver every second of every day. That is about the weight of a standard 750ml bottle of water, ticked off every single second, around the clock, all year long.
Humanity produces roughly 1.9 billion tonnes of steel per year. Silver output is 4,000 times smaller by mass. Yet silver commands a price roughly 1,000 times higher per kilogram than structural steel.