Americans, Quit Your Bitchin’: Gas in Sierra Leone Costs Over $18 a Gallon

by Stephanie Rogers · View Comments

Americans are whining and complaining about gas prices like never before. Gas hitting $4 per gallon is considered absolutely crazy – an all but insurmountable obstacle to going about our daily lives. We here at EarthFirst have professed our beliefs about gas prices and the need for Americans to start thinking differently about transportation before. Now we bring you the reality of gas prices throughout the world: Hello, Americans! We’ve been enjoying artificially low gas prices for decades!

The average in many other countries, including the Netherlands, Greece, New Zealand, Japan, Switzerland and England is around $7/gallon. In Denmark, Eritrea, France, Finland, Germany and Iceland, it’s close to $10. People in Sierra Leone, Africa undoubtedly find other ways to get around considering that gas costs a whopping $18.43 per gallon there. People in these countries actually (gasp!) take public transportation! The horrors!

Want to pay less for gas? Perhaps you should consider moving to Venezuela, where it costs just 17 cents a gallon. Venezuela is known for its highly polarized political climate, evil overlord dictator and ever-rising violent crime, though you will likely enjoy the food and the view from the plane as you fly in and out. Some of the other oil-rich countries with low gas prices include Egypt, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran. I’m sure they’ll welcome you with open arms. Good luck, and send us a postcard.

Link [Wikipedia]
Photo credit: Flickr user Payton Chung

Tagged as: Economy, Europe, Gas Prices, Transportation

gay jones

people in sierra leone dont drive 30,000 miles a year either.
this article is gay.

Shea Gunther

@Eddie- That makes sense- we just all need to move onto a base in Iraq to get cheap gas. Or Kuwait. Where do I sign up? :D

Eddie Flynn

Right now I live in Iraq on a base and gas is FREE. I used to live in Kuwait which was not that bad. There are many jobs for americans and gas is only 60 fils a liter which comes out to 80 cents a gallon. So try moving where the wages are good and the gas is cheap. No worries.

K-Man

The thing that burns me up is that all this money is going to the worst counties in the world. The most undemocratic places get all this money which insulates them from any kind of change or pressure from the outside.

We are financing both sides of the "war on terror" by giving our money to middle east oil producers.

Alice

I have some sympathy for those folks who are really pressed by gas prices. There are people who don't have health insurance and who live paycheck to paycheck and any little blip in their budget can have a devastating impact on their family.

That said... We have just been delaying the inevitable by having gas prices so low that they don't reflect the damage being done to the planet and gas prices so low that they were not encourage investment in alternative energy. So hopefully people won't be too personally hurt by this, but hopefully it will spur the innovation and investment we need to move beyond oil.