A Look At Gas Prices Across The Globe

by Derek Kreindler

March 26th, 2012 1:33 PM

The Economist has put together the above chart showing global gas prices as of February 2012, as well as how fast they’ve risen in the past 12 months. Even with gas approaching $4 overall, we’re not doing too badly compared to the rest of the world.

While the French still have to cope with $10/gallon gasoline, their prices have increased the least, while Italians have seen fuel costs go up 18 percent. Italy ranks behind Norway and the Netherlands for the priciest fuel, while the US is still sitting at about $3.53 a gallon on average. Australia, land of the V8 super sedan, pays $5.82 a gallon. No wonder the Mazda3 has overthrown the Holden Commodore as Australia’s best selling car.

#Fuel #GasPrices #Gasoline #Petrol

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16 of 41 comments

Orenwolf on Mar 26, 2012

Ok, so here's a question for Derek. The Honda Civic has been the best-selling car in Canada for like a decade, Mazda 3 the #3. Yet we have the second-cheapest gas on that chart. How does that statistic affect your analysis of the situation with Australia?

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- EChid on Mar 26, 2012
  
  I like to think that its just us being ahead of the curve. In realty, minivans (Caravan) and trucks (F-150) make up the other top sellers, so often families have one bigger car and one smaller. Also, the gas prices don't reflect the fact that, in general (historically, more than now) the same car cost more in Canada to purchase.
  
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- Spike_in_Brisbane on Mar 26, 2012
  
  @EChid Here in Oz there are more things to consider than the price of petrol. Someone earlier mentioned the low population density in the US which would not support good public transport systems. Well, Australia's population density is about 15X less. Also, our very long goat tracks often referred to as highways, provide harsh punishment for weakly built, small cars and have for decades provided good reason for the Falcons and Holdens, strong cars which would probably cost too much and last too long for US tastes. There are also a lot of unsealed roads hence a lot of Landcruisers and no Sequoias.
  
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Grzydj on Mar 26, 2012

Stupid chart of the year award goes to Derek Kreindler for this flagrant misrepresentation of prices. What is more relevant is the price Europeans pay for before and after taxes. You'd be surprised to learn that most European countries actually pay less per gallon than Americans do per gallon... before taxes are added.

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- Lokki on Mar 26, 2012
  
  That was going to be my point. Europe and Japan have chosen to discourage personal vehicle use through taxation. Further, gasoline prices comparisons between the US and Europe not only need to consider the fact of taxation but that diesel use is encouraged in Europe and discouraged here I also find iit interesting that gas prices haven't changed much in Japan. Why not?
  
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- Nrcote on Mar 26, 2012
  
  > this flagrant misrepresentation of prices Huh? The chart shows gas price increases over 12 months. Taxes on gas are higher in Europe. You know that. I know that. But the chart isn't about taxes. You feel taxes are too high in Europe? Blame the Europeans, don't blame the author.
  
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- Grzydj on Mar 26, 2012
  
  @nrcote It's misleading because it doesn't explain why Europeans as a whole pay more for their fuel than Americans do. Aside from some countries were fuel is heavily subsidized, prices are going up all around the world.
  
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Skor on Mar 26, 2012

I have quite a few relatives that live in Europe. Yes, many commute on a daily basis by car. There are two important differences: 1)The commutes tend on average to be shorter than American commutes. 2) The average European car is MUCH smaller than the average US car. I know people who work in Manhattan and drive everyday from the Poconos in Pennsylvania....in other words, they drive clear across the state of New Jersey every day to get to work...100+ miles. Such commutes are unheard of in Europe.

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- Bikegoesbaa on Mar 26, 2012
  
  People in America have 100+ mile commutes because they *choose* to. There are plenty of places in the US where you can live a
  
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- Skor on Mar 26, 2012
  
  @bikegoesbaa The only reason people "choose" 100+ mile commutes is because the US has, since the end of WWII, undertaken an official policy of sinking trillions of dollars into personal motorized transportation infrastructure. In most places people have no choice, and must drive. As for moving toward a European lifestyle, it will take a very long time, will be very expensive, and be very painful. The kind of infrastructure required doesn't even exist outside of places like New York, San Fransico, Boston, and few other old cities. Millions are going to lose their shirts in the process.
  
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- Paul W on Mar 26, 2012
  
  "100+ miles. Such commutes are unheard of in Europe." Yeah, because you can't pull something like that off unless you have US gas prices!
  
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- EChid on Mar 26, 2012
  
  @bikegoesbaa Skor is right, as well the increased urbanization in North America means we are seeing drainage of the population into cities for jobs...which means everyone wants to live in the cities, and since our public transportation is generally limited within those cities, everyone wants to live in the core, which costs a lot of money. To illustrate my point I'll use Toronto, Ontario. Nice city, good jobs, good public transportation if you live in a relatively small area around the core. However, to live in said area, you have to buy/rent at unbelievably obscene pricing (Vancouver is worse). See the tiny $1.1 million 70s bungalow that sold here the other week at $400k over asking. If you are one of many that can't afford this, you drive, through some of the worst traffic in North America. If you can't afford that (or don't want to), you can't have a job in Toronto, and better try and find something else somewhere else. Which, given our increasing centralization and urbanization, can be quite challenging.
  
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- Outback_ute on Mar 26, 2012
  
  @bikegoesbaa Surely in a 100+ mile commute you would be passing other similar areas to where you live? Having said that, none of this is unique to the US. Sure the average distance might be a bit longer but the commuting time is probably closer to a 'world average'.
  
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- Redav on Mar 27, 2012
  
  @bikegoesbaa outback_ute is right: if you drive that far, you are passing other places to live as well as other places to work. I said this above, but I'll repeat it. The single biggest problem for US commutes is the misalignment of housing and work sites. We have expansive, upper-middle class suburban housing with nary a upper-middle class job nearby. Why? There's no reason such jobs need to be in central business district. And honestly, there's no reason that telecommuting can't be implemented in more places.
  
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- Occam on Mar 27, 2012
  
  @bikegoesbaa "The single biggest problem for US commutes is the misalignment of housing and work sites. We have expansive, upper-middle class suburban housing with nary a upper-middle class job nearby. Why? There’s no reason such jobs need to be in central business district. And honestly, there’s no reason that telecommuting can’t be implemented in more places." Wouldn't building office complexes in the suburbs/outskirts of urban areas just convince people to move even FURTHER out into the exurbs, as it would be clear that "the city is moving in?" I agree on the telecommuting, but these jobs frequently have lower-middle class clerical workers, blue collar working class laborers doing maintenance and janitorial work. Moving the business districts away from the CBD just makes a different group of commuters bite the bullet... those who can least afford it, may not even own cars, etc.
  
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Ddr7 on Mar 26, 2012

Here is something to think about: http://www.consumerenergyreport.com/2012/02/27/how-high-have-gas-prices-risen-over-the-years/ After reading this I understand that $4 gas is not so bad, also, much of high gas prices is in our heads, look at this. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-02/gas-prices-is-the-pain-real

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