Norway
Price per gallon of gasoline: $9.26Rank by most expensive gas: 1Rank by pain at the pump: 52
Norway retains the title for world’s most expensive gas. The Scandinavian country doesn’t subsidize fuel at the pump, using its oil profits instead for national services, such as free college education and savings for infrastructure improvements.
Norway’s high gasoline prices are an electric carmaker’s dream. The country has the biggest share of electric vehicles in the world, making up almost 15 percent of new cars sold this year.
With the world’s second-highest incomes, Norwegians absorb the high price of gas, or an electric-car alternative, with relative ease. The average daily income is $272. It takes 3.4 percent of a day’s wages to buy a gallon of gas.
Turkey
Price per gallon of gasoline: $8.44Rank by most expensive gas: 2Rank by pain at the pump: 5
Turkey is coal country. It sits atop one of the world's top 10 reserves -- estimated at 14 billion tons. At a time most countries are reducing dependence on the polluting fuel, the Energy Ministry plans to boost power from local coal to about 20 percent by 2020 from 14 percent now.
In recent years Turkey has increased its revenue base through consumption taxes, such as the fuel tax, which are relatively easy to enforce. The country’s gasoline tax is one of the highest in the world.
Average daily income is $29 and it takes 29 percent of a day’s wages to buy a gallon of gas.
Hong Kong
Price per gallon of gasoline: $8.12Rank by most expensive gas: 3Rank by pain at the pump: 38
Hong Kong is part of China but has its own constitution, its own political structure and its own price of gasoline. On average, Hong Kong residents pay almost 75 percent more for a gallon of gas than their neighbors in China, where the government caps the price.
Hong Kong and China are both among the world’s lightest consumers of gas per capita. Hong Kong drivers, with their higher urban incomes, feel less pain at the pump. In fact, Hong Kongers spend a smaller proportion of their paychecks filling up than any other people except Venezuelans.
The average daily income is $110. It takes 7.4 percent of a day’s wages to buy a gallon of gas.
Italy
Price per gallon of gasoline: $8.11Rank by most expensive gas: 4Rank by pain at the pump: 33
Italy is struggling to put its longest economic slump behind it. Its GDP is set to contract 0.3 percent this year, and youth unemployment is at a record 44 percent.
Expensive gasoline and economic uncertainty have been a shock to the home country of Fiat and Ferrari, where car ownership is among the highest in the world. The last six months have brought some relief, with fuel prices declining 13 percent.
Average daily income is $97. It takes 8.3 percent of a day’s wages to buy a gallon of gas.
Netherlands
Price per gallon of gasoline: $8.07Rank by most expensive gas: 5Rank by pain at the pump: 41
The bike-pedaling Dutch have the highest fuel tax in the EU and the most bicycles per capita in the world. Row upon row of them stand parked at train stations, museums and national parks. A vast infrastructure of bike lanes, tunnels and traffic signals makes cycling easy to adopt.
The electricity sector is a different story. The Netherlands is one of the most fossil fuel-intensive economies of the International Energy Agency’s 29 members.
Average daily income is $143. It takes 5.6 percent of a day’s wages to buy a gallon of gasoline.
Israel
Price per gallon of gasoline: $7.76Rank by most expensive gas: 6Rank by pain at the pump: 37
The price of gasoline has been a central complaint behind Israeli cost-of-living demonstrations in recent years. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has intervened on numerous occasions to prevent prices from rising as quickly as the global price of oil.
Israel caps the price of 95-octane gas while allowing other forms of the fuel to fluctuate. Average daily income is $104, of which 7.5 percent is required to buy a gallon of gas.
Denmark
Price per gallon of gasoline: $7.64Rank by most expensive gas: 7Rank by pain at the pump: 49
There’s relatively little rotten in the state of Denmark. It has the least income inequality, the happiest people and the least corruption in the world, according to studies from the past few years.
Copenhagen, the capital, is also perhaps the most bike-friendly city in the world. More than 50 percent of Copenhageners commute to work or school by bicycle. The world’s busiest bike lane -- Dronning Louises Bro -- hosts 36,000 bicyclists every day.
As if the Danes didn’t have it good enough already, gasoline prices fell 16 percent in the last six months. Average daily income is $170. It takes 4.5 percent of a day’s wages to buy a gallon of gas.
United Kingdom
Price per gallon of gasoline: $7.33Rank by most expensive gas: 8Rank by pain at the pump: 39
The amount of income spent fueling up declined 20 percent in six months in the U.K. The country still pays more than many of its neighbors, having the eighth highest gas price in the ranking.
The U.K. may soon have a new tool in fighting fuel prices: new oil supplies. Shale rock beneath some of southern England’s wealthiest counties may contain billions of barrels of oil, according to a government report this year.
The U.K. has opened up regions for shale licensing and offered breaks to drillers to spur development. Shale drilling for gas and oil faces opposition over water contamination and greenhouse gas emissions.
Portugal
Price per gallon of gasoline: $7.18Rank by most expensive gas: 9Rank by pain at the pump: 24
The montado landscape of produces more than half of the world’s cork. Careful management of cork oak trees, whose bark is harvested every nine years, allows them to survive for hundreds of years.
The gasoline tax is one of several levies expanded in Portugal since 2001 to protect the environment (and by extension, the cork). Taxes on vehicles take into account carbon dioxide emissions and engine cylinder capacity and have led to a more efficient fleet on the road.
Taxes are lower in neighboring Spain, leading some Portuguese drivers to cross the border to fill up. Average daily income is $60. It takes 12 percent of a day’s wages to buy a gallon of gas.
Belgium
Price per gallon of gasoline: $7.15Rank by most expensive gas: 10Rank by pain at the pump: 43
Belgium has seen one of the biggest price drops in the last six months: 18 percent.
The country still has some of the most expensive gasoline in the world, but high incomes and low consumption make filling up a minor line item in the family budget.
Belgium has negligible oil and gas of its own and relies on imported energy. The average daily income is $129. The share of a day's wages needed to buy a gallon of gas is 5.5 percent.
Finland
Price per gallon of gasoline: $7.13Rank by most expensive gas: 11Rank by pain at the pump: 46
Finns are some of the world’s fastest drivers. Maybe it’s the caffeine, which Finns consume at three times the rate of Americans.
The Finnish record on the racetrack is no less excessive. Finns have won the World Rally championships more than any other country and have won more Formula One championships proportional to their population than any other nationality.
Finns have the 11th highest gasoline prices in the 61-nation ranking, though it’s little bother in a nation where the average daily income is $138. It takes 5.2 percent of a day’s wages to buy a gallon of gas.
Switzerland
Price per gallon of gasoline: $7.10Rank by most expensive gas: 12
Rank by pain at the pump: 54
With the third-highest incomes in the ranking, the Swiss can afford to splurge a little on gasoline. The country ranks 11th in gasoline consumed per person.
Despite that indulgence, the Swiss maintain some green credentials. Investments in hydroelectric, nuclear and wind power leave them with a carbon dioxide emission rate that’s less than half the average of OECD nations.
Average daily income is $231. It takes 3.1 percent of a day’s wages to buy a gallon of gas.
Greece
Price per gallon of gasoline: $7.06Rank by most expensive gas: 13
Rank by pain at the pump: 26
Greece has ended its worst recession in more than a half-century -- one that required two bailouts and almost pushed the country out of the euro zone.
Greece also finally felt some relief at the fuel pump, where prices declined 20 percent in the last six months. The country moved down eight positions in the ranking.
Average daily income is $61. It takes 12 percent of a day’s wages to buy a gallon of gasoline.
Greeks’ pain at the pump is worsened by the amount they consume. Just four countries devote more of their paychecks to filling up their cars.
Ireland
Price per gallon of gasoline: $6.98Rank by most expensive gas: 14
Rank by pain at the pump: 47
Ireland has a reputation for beer-drinking. The Irish drink 277 pints a year per person, second only to the Czech Republic. They guzzle a lot of gasoline, too.
Ireland is a road-dependent economy with public transportation that’s less extensive than in many neighbors in Western Europe.
The average daily income is $140. It takes 5 percent of a day’s wages to buy a gallon of gas.
Germany
Price per gallon of gasoline: $6.94Rank by most expensive gas: 15
Rank by pain at the pump: 44
Since Germany’s reunification IN 1990, the country has committed 34 billion euros to transportation infrastructure in the east. The region now boasts the finest autobahns in the nation. Pristine, pothole-free roads mean speedsters can push their BMWs to more than 250 kilometers an hour (155 miles per hour).
The average cost of gasoline in Europe is more than double the price in the U.S. A German driver filling the 14.5-gallon (55-liter) tank of Europe's most popular car, Volkswagen's Golf hatchback, pays $101, compared with $42 for the same fill-up in the U.S.
The price of filling up in Germany fell 18 percent in the last six months, lowering the country seven positions on the global price ranking. The average daily income is $129.
New Zealand
Price per gallon of gasoline: $6.89Rank by most expensive gas: 16
Rank by pain at the pump: 40
Kiwis consume a lot of gasoline -- the seventh most per capita in the ranking. The country also has the world’s fourth-highest rate of car ownership, with 712 cars for every 1,000 people, according to the World Bank.
The average daily income is $121. It takes 5.7 percent of a day’s wages to buy a gallon of gas.
France
Price per gallon of gasoline: $6.52Rank by most expensive gas: 22
Rank by pain at the pump: 45
Peugeot, France’s top automaker, was among those hardest hit during Europe’s six-year retraction in auto sales. While the retraction has ended, Peugeot is still working to restructure.
The company plans to eliminate 11,200 jobs in France this year, and as many as 2,450 next year. The company brought in Dongfeng Motor Corp. as a partner to expand in a country where burning fuel is still on the rise: China.
The price of gasoline, known in France as “essence,” declined 17 percent in the last six months, moving the country’s rank down seven positions.
Average daily income is $124. It takes 5.2 percent of a day’s wages to buy a gallon of gas.
Austria
Price per gallon of gasoline: $6.44Rank by most expensive gas: 24
Rank by pain at the pump: 48
Austrians buy less gasoline and pay less for it than the EU average. With prices falling 10 percent in six months, they feel even less pain at the pump than usual.
The average daily income in is $140. The share of a day's wages needed to buy a gallon of gas is 4.6 percent.
No comments:
Post a Comment