The global silver market recorded a deficit of 272 million ounces in 2022, the largest shortfall on record and the turning point for a supply gap that has persisted every year since. Data compiled by the Silver Institute and charted by Visual Capitalist tracks a decade of divergence between what mines and recyclers deliver and what industry and investors consume.

Demand hit a record 1,306 million ounces in 2022 while total supply reached 1,034 million ounces. The gap narrowed in the years that followed while staying open, at 210 million ounces in 2023, 151 million ounces in 2024 and an estimated 95 million ounces in 2025. The run of deficits began in 2021, when demand of 1,112 million ounces outpaced supply of 1,023 million ounces.

Supply has stayed remarkably flat across the period. Annual totals moved within a band of roughly 974 million to 1,057 million ounces between 2015 and 2025, showing little response to higher prices. Demand did the moving, lifted by solar panels, electric vehicles, electronics and power grid buildout, all of which rely on silver for its conductivity.

Prices tracked the imbalance closely. Silver averaged $15 to $17 an ounce between 2015 and 2019, climbed past $25 in 2021 and reached $28.30 in 2024. In 2025 the metal surged past $80 an ounce, quoted in US dollars, as export controls, geopolitical risk and investment demand collided with static mine output. The market ran surpluses through most of the second half of the 2010s, peaking at 65 million ounces in 2016, which makes the current stretch the longest sustained shortfall in the dataset.

Source: Visual Capitalist - https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/charted-silver-supply-demand-imbalance-2015-2025/