Global gas prices in 2026: what changed since the summer

Between our snapshots of July 3, 2026 and October 13, 2026, the median petrol price across 170 countries moved from $1.50 to $1.55 a litre (+3.0%). Prices rose in 108 countries, fell in 38 and were essentially flat in 24. The biggest rise was in Norway (+50.0%) and the biggest fall in Bolivia (−42.3%). All figures are GlobalPetrolPrices data in US dollars, so part of every change reflects exchange rates, not just what happened at the pump.

How widespread the change was

The median country’s price changed by +6.0%, but that single figure hides a wide range. Grouping all 170 countries by how far their price moved:

• Fell more than 5%: 11 countries
• Fell 0.5% to 5%: 27 countries
• Roughly unchanged (within ±0.5%): 24 countries
• Rose 0.5% to 10%: 44 countries
• Rose 10% to 25%: 48 countries
• Rose 25% or more: 16 countries

Among the largest economies, from the biggest rise to the smallest: Australia +40.9%, the United Kingdom +15.9%, Indonesia +13.1%, the United States +10.9%, Canada +10.5%, Germany +10.4%, China +9.9%, Japan +3.1%, Brazil −1.9%, India −2.0%, Mexico −2.3%, South Korea −7.5%. Across the 43 European countries in the dataset, the median move was +11.4%.

The 10 biggest rises

Ranked by percentage change. A large percentage on a low base (a subsidised country moving a few cents) can mean less in cash terms than a modest percentage in an expensive market, so the dollar change is shown too.

The biggest falls

Only 38 countries saw prices drop by more than half a percent. The largest declines:

A fall in dollar terms is not always a fall at the pump. A sharp drop in a single snapshot can come from a currency devaluation or a change in the exchange rate the data provider uses, rather than from a cut that drivers would notice. Check the country page before reading too much into any single number.

Dollars versus local currency

Because our dataset is in US dollars, each change above mixes two things: the price at the pump and the currency’s value against the dollar. For the countries in our registry we can separate them, using exchange rates from 2026-07-03 and 2026-10-13. These are the cases where the two views differ most:

• South Korea: −7.5% in US dollars but −20.1% in KRW; the KRW strengthened 13.6% against the dollar.
• Turkey: +29.0% in US dollars but +36.3% in TRY; the TRY weakened 5.6% against the dollar.
• Egypt: −5.9% in US dollars but +0.9% in EGP; the EGP weakened 7.2% against the dollar.
• Poland: +33.3% in US dollars but +39.4% in PLN; the PLN weakened 4.6% against the dollar.
• Colombia: +8.0% in US dollars but +1.9% in COP; the COP strengthened 5.6% against the dollar.
• Hungary: +2.4% in US dollars but +7.8% in HUF; the HUF weakened 5.3% against the dollar.

The local-currency figures are estimates, since the data provider’s own conversion rates can differ slightly from ours, but the direction is reliable. When a currency strengthens, a country’s fuel looks dearer in dollars than it feels to local drivers; when it weakens, the reverse.

What drives moves like these

We do not attribute a cause to each country’s change, because the data shows what happened, not why. In general, pump prices move for four reasons: the world price of crude oil and refined petrol, changes in fuel taxes, subsidy reforms in countries that fix prices, and exchange rates. Market-priced countries, such as most of Europe, Australia and the UAE, pass on world price moves within weeks. Countries with administered prices, such as several Gulf states, often stay flat for months and then change in a single step, which is why a fixed-price country can appear among both the biggest movers and the unchanged, depending on timing.

For context on why the levels differ so much in the first place, read why gas prices differ between countries. The current extremes are ranked in the cheapest gas in the world and the most expensive, and every country’s own trend is on the petrol price tracker.