Countries with The Highest Gas Prices, Some over 2x the US

There isn’t much for Americans to feel good about when they look at the price at the pump, though they can take some small solace in knowing that gas costs two to three times as much in many other countries.

Gas prices are up and continue to rise, and at the moment there’s little to reverse that trend. The average price of a gallon of regular gas nationwide is $4.48, according to AAA — up 41% over the past year.

That increase has pushed up the average household’s cost of living by about $800 a year. For households with heavy travel needs, the added cost can exceed $1,000. The median household income in the US is currently $87,460, or about $65,000 after taxes. An unplanned increase of $1,000 is a meaningful sum for many families, particularly those in lower-income households.

Rising gas prices are mostly blamed on the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. According to the EIA, about 20% of the world’s seaborne oil passes through the strait, and while roughly half that traffic is still getting through, the disruption remains significant. Compounding the problem, Houthi rebels have begun attacking Saudi Arabian pipelines as well as ships in the Red Sea.

Refining capacity is another factor. “If you’ve got the refinery, you run it absolutely as hard as you can,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told CNBC. That means an improvement in oil supply doesn’t immediately translate into relief at the pump.

To a large extent, the story of gas prices is as much about taxes as it is about oil and refining. The federal gas tax is $0.184 a gallon, and states add their own on top of that — an average of $0.31. California has the highest state tax, at $0.736 a gallon, which is why it’s the only state with $6 gas.

Sixteen countries have gas prices above $9 a gallon. Oil prices play a role, since most of these countries lack large domestic supplies, but taxes are often the bigger factor — in some cases amounting to nearly half of what consumers pay. In the EU, that tax burden works out to the equivalent of $1.60 a gallon, and many countries add even more on top. In France, for example, about half the price of a gallon of gas comes from VAT and the Domestic Consumption Tax on Energy Products, according to Planète Energies.

Geography adds another layer of cost: several of these countries are relatively isolated and lack their own refineries, which drives up transportation costs.

Here are the nations with gas prices over $9 a gallon:

Country	Price (USD/gallon)	Reason
Hong Kong	$15.88	No domestic refining or production; high fuel duty due to land scarcity and traffic congestion
Malawi	$12.27	Landlocked in Africa, heavy dependence on imports; currency exchange rates are a factor
Norway	$11.98	One of the world’s largest oil exporters, but high carbon/environmental taxes due to climate policy
Denmark	$11.37	High excise and carbon taxes due to climate policies
Netherlands	$10.77	High fuel excise duty plus VAT stacked on top of import costs
Germany	$10.11	High fuel excise duty plus carbon tax pricing, also VAT
Israel	$9.96	High fuel taxes, import-dependent
Finland	$9.85	High EU excise duty and carbon/environmental tax
Albania	$9.76	Import-dependent, with fuel taxation and low local refinery capacity
Liechtenstein	$9.66	Sixth-smallest nation in the world by area, and landlocked, with no local refineries
Switzerland	$9.38	Environmental levies on fuel, low refinery capacity
Monaco	$9.33	World’s second-smallest nation with no domestic production, high tax structure
Italy	$9.26	Among the highest fuel excise duties in the EU
France	$9.18	High excise duty (TICPE), carbon tax component, and VAT
Greece	$9.15	High VAT and excise tax on fuel
Singapore	$9.09	No domestic oil production; high tax used to discourage car ownership and congestion
Portugal	$9.05	High fuel excise duty and VAT