The World's Rare Earth Metals Are Controlled by China, Brazil, and India 0 54

A new infographic created by specialists from the Visual Capitalist portal based on data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows where the known global reserves of rare earth elements (REE) are located, highlighting how concentrated they are in just a few countries.

The distribution is extremely uneven. The People's Republic of China alone possesses nearly half of the world's reserves, followed by significant deposits in Brazil. In comparison, many developed economies have quite modest resources.

China leads with 44 million tons — about 48% of the global total of 91.9 million tons. Brazil confidently holds second place with 21 million tons (23%), possessing large reserves, many of which are still in the early stages of development.

India (6.9 million tons), Australia (5.7 million tons), Russia (3.8 million tons), and Vietnam (3.5 million tons) surpass the United States in reserve sizes. Together, the six leading countries concentrate about four-fifths of all known reserves.

The United States has only 1.9 million tons of REE (2%), underscoring its dependence on imports and processing at the manufacturing chain stage. In recent months, the Trump administration has sought to reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese supplies by funding domestic mining projects, expediting permit issuance, and developing partnerships with allies to diversify supply chains.