How Many Grams in an Ounce of Gold? A Guide for UAE Buyers

How many grams in an ounce of gold? If you have ever compared a gold price quoted in ounces with a Dubai shop price quoted in grams, you have probably asked yourself this. The answer is 31.1035 grams, and the reason it is not 28.35 grams is a very old unit called the troy ounce.

In this guide we explain where the number comes from, give you conversion tables for ounces, grams and tola, and show what one ounce and one gram of gold cost in dirhams today, using our gold price chart in AED and real offers from UAE dealers.

How Many Grams Are in an Ounce of Gold?

One ounce of gold contains exactly 31.1034768 grams. This is the definition of the troy ounce, the unit used to weigh and price gold, silver, platinum and palladium all over the world. The LBMA, which runs the London bullion market, and the US National Institute of Standards and Technology both use this exact value.

For everyday use, you can round it:

• 31.1035 g, which is precise enough for any bar or coin you will buy,
• 31.1 g, which is fine for a quick mental check,
• never 28.35 g, which is a different ounce altogether.

Troy ounce vs regular ounce

Why do two ounces exist? The regular ounce, called the avoirdupois ounce, is used for food, parcels and body weight in countries that still use imperial units. The troy ounce survived only in the precious metals trade. The two are easy to confuse, and the gap between them is large enough to matter.

So what does this mean for you? If you ever convert a gold price with the wrong ounce, your result will be off by more than AED 1,200 per ounce. That is enough to make a fair offer look cheap.

Why gold is weighed in troy ounces

The troy ounce is centuries old. The LBMA traces its use in England back to the Middle Ages, and the name is usually linked to Troyes, a market town in France. Banks, refiners and exchanges kept it because every contract, vault record and price feed already used it. Changing would cause more confusion than it would solve.

Today the international gold price, including the LBMA Gold Price set twice a day in London, is quoted in US dollars per troy ounce. When you see “gold at USD 3,979.80” on the news, that is the price of 31.1035 g.

1 Ounce Gold in Grams: Conversion Table

Gold coins and bars come in fractions and multiples of the ounce, as well as in metric sizes. Here are the conversions you will use most often:

And the other way round, for the gram bars you will find in most UAE shops:

Want to see how these sizes compare in real shops? Our guide to gold bar sizes in the UAE covers each size, from 1 g to 1 kg.

Ounces, Grams and Tola: How Gold Is Weighed in the UAE

The UAE sits where several weighing traditions meet. Bullion banks and online dealers often think in ounces. Gold souk shops in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi display a daily price per gram for each karat. Many buyers from South Asia, and plenty of Emirati families, still talk about gold in tola.

What is a tola?

A tola is a traditional unit of weight from the Indian subcontinent. One tola equals 11.6638038 g, which is exactly 3/8 of a troy ounce. The best-known tola product is the 10 tola bar, often called a TT bar, which holds 116.64 g of gold.

A simple rule of thumb: 8 tola make 3 troy ounces. If a seller quotes you a tola price, divide it by 11.6638 to get the price per gram and compare it with the spot price below.

Price per gram and karat in Dubai shops

Gold shops in the UAE usually post separate prices per gram for 24, 22, 21 and 18 karat gold. A karat tells you how much of the metal is pure gold, out of 24 parts. That is why a gram of 22 karat jewellery is worth less than a gram of 24 karat bullion, even before making charges.

Note that these are metal values, not shop prices. Jewellery also carries making charges and 5% VAT, while investment gold does not (see the VAT section below). Read more about purity in our glossary entry on fineness.

Does a 1 oz Gold Coin Weigh 31.1 Grams?

Not always. This surprises many first-time buyers. A coin sold as “1 oz” promises one troy ounce of pure gold. It does not promise that the whole coin weighs 31.1 g.

Here is the difference:

• Gross weight: the weight of the whole coin, including any copper or silver mixed in.
• Fine weight: the weight of the pure gold inside it.

Coins made from 24 karat gold weigh close to 31.1 g. Coins made from 22 karat gold weigh more, because the extra metal makes them harder and more resistant to scratches.

Why does this matter? Two reasons. First, if you weigh a 22 karat coin at home and get 33.9 g, nothing is wrong. Second, if a dealer prices a coin “per gram” of gross weight, check that the price is based on the gold content. The US Mint and the Royal Canadian Mint publish the official weight of each coin, and these are worth checking before you buy.

Read also: Cheapest Way to Buy Gold in the UAE: What Our Price Data Shows

Gold Price per Ounce and per Gram in AED

Now that you know the weights, the prices are simple arithmetic. On 12 November 2026, the gold spot price was AED 14,615.82 per troy ounce, according to the Metals Radar price service. The spot price is the live wholesale price of gold, before any dealer premium.

Here is how to turn a price per ounce into a price per gram:

Price per gram = price per troy ounce ÷ 31.1035

So AED 14,615.82 ÷ 31.1035 = AED 469.91 per gram. The UAE dirham is pegged to the US dollar at about 3.6725 AED per USD, so the AED price moves almost exactly with the dollar price.

The price per gram changes every day. Over the 30 days to 12 November 2026, it moved between AED 457.70 and AED 493.90:

A year earlier, on 12 November 2025, a gram of gold was worth AED 490.17 at spot. The past year’s high came on 29 January 2026, at AED 644.60 per gram. You can follow the latest numbers on our gold price per gram and gold price per kilogram pages.

What You Actually Pay per Gram in the UAE

Spot is the value of the gold. What you pay at a dealer is spot plus a premium, which covers refining, minting, packaging and the dealer’s margin. The premium over spot is calculated like this:

Premium % = (price per gram − spot price per gram) ÷ spot price per gram × 100

This is where knowing the grams in an ounce pays off. Once you divide every price by its weight in grams, you can compare a 1 oz bar, a 100 g bar and a 1 g bar side by side. Here is what UAE dealers in our data charged on the morning of 12 November 2026:

Three things stand out:

• the same 1 oz size cost 2.5% over spot as a PAMP bar and 12.6% as a Valcambi bar at the same dealer,
• the same 1 g PAMP bar cost AED 539.47 at one dealer and AED 587.30 at another,
• a 1 oz coin cost more per gram than a 1 oz bar, which is normal for coins.

The lesson is simple. Always convert to price per gram before you compare. Browse current offers for 1 oz gold bars, 100 g gold bars and gold coins, or compare all UAE bullion dealers.

How to Convert Ounces to Grams Yourself

You do not need a calculator app for most checks. Here is a quick method in three steps.

Step 1: Check which ounce you are dealing with

Gold, silver, platinum and palladium are always priced in troy ounces. If a website or app shows a weight in plain “oz” for a gold product, it still means troy ounces. Use 31.1035 g.

Step 2: Multiply or divide

• ounces to grams: multiply by 31.1035,
• grams to ounces: divide by 31.1035,
• tola to grams: multiply by 11.6638,
• grams to tola: divide by 11.6638.

Example: a 2.5 oz bar holds 2.5 × 31.1035 = 77.76 g of gold. A 250 g bar holds 250 ÷ 31.1035 = 8.04 oz.

Step 3: Work out the price per gram

Divide the asking price by the weight of pure gold in grams. Then compare the result with today’s spot price per gram. If a 10 g bar costs AED 4,894.15, the price per gram is AED 489.42, which is 4.2% above the spot price of AED 469.91 on 12 November 2026.

Common Mistakes When Converting Gold Weights

Most errors come from mixing units. Watch out for these:

• using 28.35 g (the kitchen ounce) instead of 31.1035 g, which makes gold look about 9.7% cheaper than it is,
• comparing a 22 karat jewellery price per gram with a 24 karat bullion price per gram,
• dividing the price of a 22 karat coin by its gross weight instead of its gold content,
• comparing a price that includes VAT with one that does not,
• confusing the troy pound (12 troy ounces, 373.24 g) with the ordinary pound (16 ounces, 453.59 g).

Does any of this change the value of the gold itself? No. One troy ounce of 24 karat gold is worth the same whether you call it 31.1035 g, 2.67 tola or 0.0311 kg. Only the way the price is written changes.

Is There VAT on Gold in the UAE?

Yes for jewellery, and no for investment gold. Under Article 36 of the UAE VAT Executive Regulation, published by the Federal Tax Authority, investment precious metals are zero-rated. The gold must have a purity of 99% or more and be in a form tradable on global bullion markets.

For you, this means:

• a 24 karat PAMP or Valcambi bar of any size carries 0% VAT,
• gold jewellery, including 22 and 21 karat pieces, carries the standard 5% VAT,
• a 22 karat bullion coin such as the Krugerrand is below 99% purity, so check the VAT treatment with your dealer before you buy.

Read more in our glossary entry on VAT on gold.

Summary: How Many Grams in an Ounce of Gold

Compare Gold Prices per Gram in the UAE

Knowing that an ounce of gold weighs 31.1035 g turns every price tag into something you can compare. Metals Radar tracks gold bar and coin prices from UAE dealers every day and shows the price per gram and premium over spot for each offer, so you do not have to do the arithmetic yourself.

Start with our gold bar price comparison, or browse investment gold in the UAE to see bars and coins side by side.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not investment or tax advice.