10 Largest Silver Producing Countries in the World

The 10 largest silver producing countries in the world are providing nearly all of the supply of an incredibly important metal, and reaping the rewards of what is a billion dollar industry.

Silver has always been a fascinating metal throughout history, and silver mining has been practiced since at least 3000 BC! Silver was mined in olden times in both Turkey and Greece, though neither of the countries make our top 10. In fact, the rise of Athens has also been attributed to the mining of silver from local mines. In Medieval times, the geography of silver mining shifted to an extent, with Germany the center of production in Europe for silver.

The reason behind silver’s historic popularity, as well as its current popularity, lies simply in its appearance. It’s shiny look and scarce supply when compared to some other metals has always ensured that it maintains a high value and is even a major source of investment, like other precious metals such as gold. It is often used in jewellery and expensive tableware, commodities where looks are important.

To prove that demand for silver does not depreciate with time, consumption of the metal was actually higher in 2019 when compared to 2018, albeit slightly. This is due to silver consumption in the coin and bar industry increasing, as well as an increase in the jewelry and tableware industry. However, despite the increase in consumption, it was still outpaced by production which led to excess inventory of silver. This may result in lower production in 2020 to offset the extra inventory.

The increase in production led to total silver production in 2019 amounting to 27,000 metric tons, which was made possible due to an increased output in mines in Australia, Mexico, Poland and Argentina. The 10 largest silver producing countries in the world are responsible for around 87% of the total global production. To determine their rankings, we considered the production of each country in both 2018 and 2019, and calculated the average of these rankings to get to our list. Where the average score of multiple countries was same, the country with greater output in 2019 got the nod ahead of the other countries. Our information was obtained from the Mineral Commodities Summaries 2020, which has up to date information on any mineral you can think of. If you are interested in other metals, you should consider heading on over to the top 10 countries that produce the most nickel in the world.

10. United States of America

Production of silver in 2018 (in metric tons): 934

Production of silver in 2019 (in metric tons): 980

9. Argentina

Production of silver in 2018 (in metric tons): 1,020

Production of silver in 2019 (in metric tons): 1,200

8. Bolivia

Production of silver in 2018 (in metric tons): 1,190

Production of silver in 2019 (in metric tons): 2,000

7. Chile

Production of silver in 2018 (in metric tons): 1,370

Production of silver in 2019 (in metric tons): 1,300

6. Australia

Production of silver in 2018 (in metric tons): 1,220

Production of silver in 2019 (in metric tons): 1,400

5. Poland

Production of silver in 2018 (in metric tons): 1,470

Production of silver in 2019 (in metric tons): 1,700

4. Russia

Production of silver in 2018 (in metric tons): 2,100

Production of silver in 2019 (in metric tons): 2,100

3. China

Production of silver in 2018 (in metric tons): 3,570

Production of silver in 2019 (in metric tons): 3,600

2. Peru

Production of silver in 2018 (in metric tons): 4,160

Production of silver in 2019 (in metric tons): 3,800

1. Mexico

Production of silver in 2018 (in metric tons): 6,120

Production of silver in 2019 (in metric tons): 6,300

With 6,300 metric tons produced in 2019, Mexico tops the list of 10 largest silver producing countries in the world. The surprising thing is, there are at least 6 countries with far greater reserves than Mexico, yet Mexico produces more silver than the rest. While Mexico would have been top even if production had stayed constant between the two years, the country shows no sign of slowing down, registering an increase of around 180 metric tons.