One of the immediate consequences of the war in Ukraine has been the rise in fuel prices. Drivers are looking for the most efficient routes, where they can find the cheapest refueling points, since they can save around 10 euros for refilling the tank.
As Europe is one of the regions that depends the most on Russian oil, all countries have been affected by the price increase. According to the latest study by the British price comparator Confused.com, Spanish drivers pay 5.41% of their annual salary for fuel.
This places our country in tenth position of the 15 states analyzed, with an estimated annual average of 7,701 kilometers traveled, the least of the entire classification. The three countries that leave the most budget, relative to their income, are Greece (13.1%), Portugal (9.8%) and the United Kingdom (8.2%).
The average salary of these countries is, respectively and according to Eurostat data, 8,781; 10,800 and 21,464 euros. In the case of Spain, the average is 16,043.
Comparatively, the country that spends the least percentage on fuel is the one that has the most income: Luxembourg, whose average is 37,844 euros and its percentage is 3.8%. In addition, it has the lowest fuel prices of the 15 countries (1.90 euros per liter of gasoline at the time of preparing the study, July 2022) but, curiously, it is in the top five of kilometers traveled, with 13,256.
Although the percentage data is important, the invoice also yields interesting conclusions. Spain is the country with the lowest amount of gasoline per year, 868.5 euros per year. This is mainly due to the low number of kilometers traveled, which in turn translates into the lowest number of liters consumed per year: 412.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is Denmark, which uses 910 liters of gasoline per year to travel 16,934 kilometers, followed by Sweden, with 879 liters for 15,707 kilometers per year. Their annual bills are the highest, with amounts of 2,139.2 and 1,898.9 euros per year.
Alex Kindredan advisor to Confused, states that certain tips can be followed to reduce fuel consumption, such as having the tires at the correct pressure, driving gently to take advantage of slopes, turning off the engine in traffic jams or refilling the tank alone with the necessary amount of gasoline so as not to have an excessive weight.