Fuel in the EU: Prices in Bulgaria rose 42 percent within a year, the most in the EU

Drivers in Bulgaria are feeling the rise in pump prices more sharply than anyone else in the European Union. According to Eurostat data published on 21 October 2026, prices of fuels and lubricants for personal transport in the EU were on average 31.4 percent higher in September than a year earlier. In July the annual increase had been 16.9 percent, in August 23.8 percent. The steepest rise was in Bulgaria (up 42.2 percent), followed by Estonia (up 40.6 percent) and Lithuania (up 40.2 percent).

The smallest rise was in Hungary (up 6.9 percent), followed at a distance by Ireland (up 17.7 percent) and Sweden (up 19.9 percent). From August to September alone, diesel in the EU rose 5.9 percent and petrol 6.7 percent, Eurostat said. For diesel, the biggest monthly increases were in Sweden (up 12.8 percent), Latvia (up 10.3 percent) and Poland (up 9.7 percent), the smallest in Spain (up 2.4 percent), Croatia (up 2.5 percent) and Romania (up 3.0 percent).

In Germany, fuel was 37.1 percent more expensive in September than a year earlier and 6.9 percent more expensive than in August, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reported on 13 October. Inflation there reached 3.3 percent, the highest level since December 2023. For Bulgaria the trend is not new: back in June, Eurostat measured an annual fuel price increase of 26 percent – also the highest in the EU at the time, Economic.bg reported.