Petrol Index 2022: how many litres of petrol can you buy for an average wage?

This is an archived report. The latest ranking is available here.

Our analysts at Picodi.com examined the dynamics of petrol price change in APAC and around the world in the first quarter of 2022 and calculated how many litres of petrol one can afford for an average wage in New Zealand.

Petrol is even twice as expensive

In the first half of 2022, many countries in our region noted record-breaking increases in petrol prices. The anti-leader of this increase is Sri Lanka, where the petrol price increased by 129.5%.

In June, the average price of a litre of petrol in New Zealand was NZ$3.29. This price is 23.5% higher than in January, when, on average, a litre of petrol cost NZ$2.66. An even more severe increase in price can be felt by car owners in the Philippines (+36.9%), Indonesia (+47.7%) and in Pakistan (+52.2%).

In Malaysia, petrol prices were stable throughout the first half of the year. In countries such as India, Taiwan and Japan, petrol prices increased only by a very small margin (+1.3%, +2.4% and +3.1% respectively).

Petrol Index 2022

Hongkongers and Singaporeans are currently paying the most for their fuel, paying $3.00/litre and $2.33/litre respectively. In New Zealand, the petrol price is one of the highest in APAC – 3^rd place out of 17 accounted for countries at $2.09/litre. Low petrol prices can be enjoyed by citizens of Malaysia ($0.47/litre) and Taiwan ($1.05/litre).

This year 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, drivers from Australia (2,917 litres), Malaysia (1,790 litres) and Taiwan (1,583 litres) can buy the most petrol.

According to the newest data presented by Stats NZ, the average wage in New Zealand is NZ$1,406.12 gross weekly (NZ$4,750.15 net monthly). This means that an average New Zealander for an average monthly wage can buy 1,445 litres of petrol. Compared to the previous year’s petrol index, the purchasing power of the average New Zealander wage in the context of petrol has significantly decreased.

This is what the petrol index in New Zealand looked like in the last few years:

• 2019 – 1,852 litres
• 2020 – 2,082 litres
• 2021 – 2,026 litres
• 2022 – 1,445 litres

Prices of petrol around the world: prices did not increase everywhere

Having substantial raw material resources saved some countries from the increase in the price of petrol. Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar were not affected by the world’s economic situation. The governments of countries such as Columbia, Ecuador and Kazakhstan have decided to either freeze or set the upper limit on petrol prices.

(hover over the country to see the information)

In June of 2022, the lowest price of gasoline was noted in Algeria ($0.31/litre), Kuwait ($0.34/litre) and Iran ($0.35/litre). Hong Kong on the other hand stands out as the country with the highest price of gas per litre ($3/litre).

In the global ranking of purchasing power, the podium still belongs to the Gulf countries: Qatar (5,968 litres), Kuwait (5,578 litres) and Saudi Arabia (4,372 litres).

The poorest country in this comparison is Cuba, where the average wage is equal to only 27 litres of petrol.

With increasing petrol prices, leaving your car in the garage might be a good idea. Picodi allows you to travel with Uber, Europcar and Hotwire, and get 5% of your spendings through cashback.

Methodology

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

This study uses the newest average wage data published online 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 102 countries in the first half of 2022 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 get the number of litres, we divided the average monthly net wage (obtained through local wage calculators) by an average price of 1 litre of petrol. For currency conversion, we used the average exchange rate data from Google Finance for June 2022.

Public use

Would you like to share the information about petrol prices and wage purchasing power in New Zealand and worldwide with your readers? You can freely use the data and infographics presented in this report both for commercial and non-commercial use, as long as you state the author of this research (Picodi.com) with a link to this subpage. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at: research@picodi.com.