The average Filipino worker can purchase 158 liters of gasoline, putting the country in dead last among the 17 countries researched by Picodi, an online aggregator of discount codes and deals.

With an average net wage of P 8,419 (~USD 162) per month, and the price of fuel at P 53.31 (~USD 1.02), the Philippines is dead last alongside countries such as Pakistan and Cambodia. The purchasing power of Filipinos represent just 5 percent of the Asia-Pacific ranking leader’s capacity.

The best ratio of petrol price to the average salary in Asia-Pacific are (not surprisingly) Australia and Japan. Despite having little oil produced in those two countries, the average wages there are enough to buy 3,783 and 2,006 liters of gasoline respectively. South Korea, with 1,908 liters takes third place with 1,908 liters.

Meanwhile, the country with the cheapest gasoline in the region is found in Malaysia, where on average, one liter of gasoline is just MYR 2.05 (~USD 0.49), while the most expensive is in Hong Kong, where the price of one liter soars to HKD 16.89 (~USD 2.15).


Taken from a global perspective though, the cheapest petrol is in Venezuela where one liter only costs USD 0.000000002. With the average salary amounting to around USD 29 there, theoretically, a motorist can buy over 14 billions of liters a month. That said, the country is facing a financial crisis and record inflation.

The actual leaders of the ranking are the Persian Gulf countries. In Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, the price of 1 liter is around $0.4–0.6 and with the average salary we can buy there from 4,900 to 6,500 liters of petrol.

The high positions of countries like the United States and Canada can be explained not only by high salaries but also the amount of extracted oil. Switzerland and Luxembourg stand out with high incomes only.

The lowest amount of petrol can be bought in Madagascar (42 liters), Tajikistan (131 liters), and Zambia (137 liters).


One interesting example is Nigeria. Although it is a country extracting and exporting considerable amounts of oil and with one of the lowest prices per liter (USD 0.40), the really low average wage amounting to USD 201 does not allow its citizens to buying a big amount of petrol (501 liters).

Picodi uses the average net wages according to the latest available data provided by offices for national statistics or relevant ministries. The average prices for the first half of 2019 in over 100 countries are based on data from various local and international sources. In order to obtain the number of liters, analysts divided the average wage by the average price of 1 liter of petrol. For currency conversion, they used the average exchange rate for the last 90 days.

Source: Picodi