I thought that knowing some of the prices people are paying for regular gas around the world might bring a better perspective for all of us in these times.
The price I'm paying for regular gas is going up but it is usually:
$4.50 to$4.75 here in Northern California.
China was paying around $2.50 per gallon 2 weeks ago but the government decided to increase their price to around $2.95 to $3.00 a gallon by upping the price 18%.
http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/2653
As of June 15th 2008 theoildrum internet address is the source of the following gasoline statistics.
I'll do the top ten prices in Europe and then the lowest 10 on earth which are mostly oil producing nations.
All are per Gallon prices:
$7.76 Norway
$7.52 Netherlands
$7.32 Belgium
$7.15 United Kingdom
$6.99 Turkey
$6.98 Germany
$6.98 Denmark
$6.93 Finland
$6.65 Portugal
$6.50 Sweden
The 12 lowest prices in the world are:
$.19 Venezuela
$.29 Turkmenistan
$.33 Iran
$.45 Saudi Arabia
$.78 Kuwait
$1.92 Nigeria
$2.38 Mexico
$2.44 China Now raised to $2.95 as of June 20th
$2.61 Thailand
$2.68 Russia
$2.75 Kazakhstan
$3.10 United States as of June 15th
As you can see, the United States is not suffering the most from these prices, The top ten to twenty nations are. If it's this bad here, imagine how bad it is other places?
Looking lower on the page at the oildrum site I listed above I would like to quote the ten highest nations and 10 lowest nations in Gross Domestic product which then gives an average idea of the income of the average person in those countries. In this way we can better see how the price of gas in each of those countries affects the common man and woman there.
top ten Gross domestic product per capita(on referenced chart)
80.47 Luxembourg
44.09 Ireland
43.57 Norway
43.44 United States
37.37 Switzerland
36.55 Denmark
36.03 Austria
35.49 Canada
35.08 Netherlands
35.05 United Kingdom
Bottom 10 Gross domestic product per capita (on referenced chart)
1.21 Nigeria
7.17 Venezuela
7.60 China
8.55 Turkmenistan
8.62 Iran
9.08 Thailand
9.11 Turkey
9.11 Brasil
9.29 Kazakhstan
11.25 Mexico
By using these two charts one gets a better perspective of how those prices affect the average person. However, in many countries, especially in the bottom half of the GDP chart there really is no middle class within those nations, there is literally only rich and poor for the most part so this should be considered as well.
I have to seriously question the accuracy of my source material because as of June 15th I happen to know that the average price for gasoline in the U.S. was between $4.00 to $4.07 per gallon for regular nationwide. However, I still think that these references are valuable in showing a comparison in prices between countries. Also, the Gross domestic product per capita doesn't change that much year to year except in countries like China and India where they are growing by leaps and bounds. So the gross domestic product is likely valuable too on the charts.
It is obvious to everyone we have entered a Brave New World where nothing is as it was or likely will ever be the same again because of the end of cheap oil and Global Climate change. The biggest change likely will be a downward mobility of wealth in general because of high oil prices and more and more extreme weather changes which likely will cause the death of millions directly and indirectly. It is time for all of us to prepare in order to save our families and friends wherever possible from extinction.
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