30 Countries With the Highest Gas Prices

You need gas to drive most cars around the world. OPEC works to stabilize oil markets, but the price of gas still varies. This is often due to different factors, such as geographic location, infrastructure, political conflict and taxes. 

The Ukrainian crisis, for instance, has driven up fuel prices in several European countries, though no one knows for how long. But outside of an unexpected political crisis on a global scale, which are the countries where driving is a luxury?

Using different studies, we analyzed the price of fuel in different countries to see where filling up your car can feel like giving up your firstborn child. These are the countries with the most expensive gas prices.

Note: Data comes from the 2021 Budget Direct Global Fuel Index Report. Market affordability is the percentage of average monthly salary it takes to fill an 80-liter tank, or 21.1 gallons.

Price of gasoline per liter: $1.37 ($4.32 per gallon)

Average monthly salary: $3,259.67

Market affordability: 17.0 percent

Montenegro is a relatively young nation. It gained independence from Serbia in 2006. Partly because of the long conflict for independence, the country’s infrastructure is behind that of its Eastern European neighbors.

What does this have to do with the high price of gasoline? The government decided to aggressively pursue infrastructure projects, particularly roads and highways. To pay for these projects, Montenegro has placed hefty taxes on fuel, bringing the price up. 

While infrastructure is needed, this plan hasn’t been great for citizens, since it takes 17 percent of the average monthly salary to fill up an 80-liter tank. That’s more than many in the country can afford.

Price of gasoline per liter: $1.42 ($4.44 per gallon)

Average monthly salary: $950.54

Market affordability: 32.4 percent

Many countries have high fuel prices because of taxes, but Albania is in a different league and imposes more taxes on oil than most countries. Sixty percent of the price of gasoline in the country is taxes, which Albanians aren’t too happy about. 

Taxes include excise duty, which is an indirect tax many countries use for revenue, as well as a carbon tax. The latter serves the purpose of discouraging the use of carbon-intensive sources of energy like coal and petroleum in order to mitigate climate change.