How to compare fuel prices between countries
Why the same litre isn't the same price, and a straightforward way to make two countries actually comparable.
- Convert every price to one currency and one unit before comparing.
- Match comparable grades: a country's standard petrol against another's standard petrol, not premium against regular.
- Remember that tax makes up a different share of the price in every country, which is part of why prices differ.
- Use an indexed or cost per distance view when price levels are very far apart.
Put every price in one currency
A price published in one country's own currency, per litre or per gallon, tells you almost nothing next to another country's price until both are on the same footing.
Convert both to one currency, using an up-to-date exchange rate, and one unit, before you compare them at all.
Convert to the same unit
Most of the world sells fuel by the litre. The United States and a few other markets sell it by the US gallon, which is 3.78541 litres, not 4, a common source of small conversion mistakes.
If you convert a US price to litres before comparing, or a European price to gallons, you're comparing the same unit on both sides. Skipping this step is the single most common way a comparison goes wrong.
Match comparable grades
Grades aren't labelled the same way everywhere. Most of the world uses RON, with 95 as a common standard grade; the United States uses AKI, with Regular 87 as its standard. These are not the same number on the same scale.
Compare a country's own standard grade against another country's own standard grade, or use the standard and premium groupings in the explorer, rather than matching numbers across scales.
See RON and AKI explained →Remember tax is part of the price
Two countries can have the same underlying oil cost and very different pump prices, purely because of excise duty and VAT. A price gap doesn't always mean one country's fuel costs more to produce.
It's worth asking whether a low price reflects low tax, a subsidy, or a fixed price set by the government, rather than assuming it reflects the free-market cost.
See how excise duty works →A worked example: Germany and the United States
Putting the first four steps together on real figures from 19 Sep 2026:
Once everything is in EUR per litre, Germany's diesel is 2.42 and the United States' is about 0.38. That's the number that's actually comparable, not the two published prices side by side.
Open the explorer with Germany and the United States already selected, in one currency and unit.
Common mistakes to avoid
A short list of the errors that most often throw a comparison off.
Questions and answers
Is it fair to compare a subsidised country's price to a market-priced one?
You can, but read it differently. A very low price in a subsidised country reflects government policy more than the underlying cost of fuel, so it says more about that country's budget than about global oil prices.
Why do our comparisons default to an indexed view sometimes?
An index view shows how much prices have moved relative to a starting point, which makes trend comparison easier when two countries have very different absolute price levels.
Can I compare fuel cost per kilometre instead of per litre?
Not directly in the price explorer, but dividing the litre price by a typical fuel economy figure gives you a rough cost-per-kilometre. Diesel cars typically travel further per litre, so a higher diesel price can still mean a lower per-km cost.
Terms used in this guide
Keep reading
What makes up the price at the pump
Crude oil, refining, distribution and taxes, and why the split differs by country.
Petrol or diesel: which costs less to run?
Price per litre is only half of it. Fuel use, taxes and distance decide.
Why some countries have very cheap fuel
Subsidies, price caps and fixed prices, and what they mean for travellers.