Petrol Index 2023: how many litres of petrol can you buy for an average wage?

Picodi.com analysts examined the dynamics of petrol price change in Hong Kong and around the world in the first half of the year and calculated how many litres of petrol an average Hongkonger earning an average wage can afford.

Petrol prices have stabilized

In the first six months of 2023, the prices of petrol in our region remained stable. In most countries, the petrol price in June remained unchanged or differed from the price in January by less than 10%. Only in Pakistan petrol became noticeably more expensive – 22%. In Sri Lanka, petrol was cheaper than in January by 25.5%.

In Hong Kong, the average petrol price in June 2023 was HK$23.39, 30 cents more than in January (HK$23.09).

The petrol prices remained unchanged in India and Malaysia, where the price of fuel is controlled by the government.

Petrol Index 2023

The lowest petrol prices can be found in Iran ($0.35/litre), Kuwait ($0.34/litre), and Algeria ($0.34/litre). On the other hand, the highest petrol prices have to be paid by drivers from Israel ($1.94/litre), Jordan ($1.61/litre), and Türkiye ($0.99/litre). In Hong Kong, petrol costs $2.99/litre, $1.73 more than the continental average.

We also checked the relation between petrol prices and local average wages.

(click the arrows to see data from the remaining 16 countries)

With the average wage, the most petrol can be bought by the citizens of high-wage countries – Aussies (3,669 litres), South Koreans (2,132 litres), and Kiwis (1,960 litres).

According to the newest data presented by C&SD, the average wage in Hong Kong is HK$17,728 gross (HK$16,658 net). This means that an average Hongkonger can buy 712 litres of petrol (9^th out of 17 countries). Last year, in the same period, the average wage could buy 674 litres (38 litres less).

This is what the petrol index in Hong Kong looked like in the last 5 years:

• 2019 – 983 litres;
• 2020 – 974 litres;
• 2021 – 839 litres;
• 2022 – 674 litres;
• 2023 – 712 litres.

In search of a driver’s paradise…

Compared to last year, the three leaders have not changed: Algeria ($0.34/litre), Kuwait ($0.34/litre) and Iran ($0.35/litre) are still the cheapest countries in the world. Hong Kong continues to be the most expensive country with a litre of petrol costing $2.99.

(hover over the country to see the information)

In the global ranking of purchasing power, the podium belongs to the Gulf countries: with the average wage the most petrol can be bought in Kuwait (7,222 litres), Qatar (6,839 litres), and the United Arab Emirates (4,611 litres).

On the other hand, the Petrol Index looks the worst in these countries:

• Pakistan – 166 litres for the average wage;
• Sri Lanka – 157 litres;
• Cuba – 27 litres.

Methodology

Petrol Index is an annual ranking of the relation between petrol prices and salaries conducted by Picodi.com since 2019.

In this study, we used the latest average wage data published by national statistics offices or relevant ministries. In countries where such data is not published, we used statistics from Numbeo.

The average petrol prices in 104 countries in the first half of 2023 were taken from GlobalPetrolPrices.com and other local sources. The difference between prices in June and January was calculated in local currencies. In order to calculate the “Petrol Index”, we divided the average net wage (obtained through local wage calculators) by an average price of a litre of petrol in June. For currency conversion, we used the average exchange rate data from Google Finance for June 2023.

All the prices, along with the list of sources can be found here.

Public Use

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