Where are instance variables of an Object stored in the JVM?

Question

Is an instance variable of an object in Java stored on the stack or method area of the JVM?

Also, do we have different instance variable for multiple threads?

Answer 1

To be precise,

• Instance variables will be stored on the heap.
• local variables on the stack(in case of variable not a primitive[reference variable] reference variables live on stack
  and the object on heap ). Only method invocation and partial results will be stored in stack not the method itself.
• Static variables and Methods(including static and Non Static) on the Method Area.

Reference: Head First Java