Fuel prices for private transport in Bulgaria were 42.2% higher in September than a year earlier, Eurostat said. It is the biggest rise in the European Union. Bulgaria also ranked first in August.
The figures cover retail prices of fuel and lubricants that people buy for their cars. In Bulgaria, the annual rise has sped up for a second month in a row, from 22.2% in July to 34.5% in August and above 40% in September.
The EU average is lower but also climbing: 16.9% in July, 23.8% in August and 31.4% in September. In 26 countries, the September rise was bigger than in July and August.
Only two other countries joined Bulgaria above 40%: Estonia at 40.6% and Lithuania at 40.2%. Another 12 countries had rises above 30%, from 37.5% in Czechia at the top to 30.3% in Portugal at the bottom.
Fuel prices rose least over the year in Hungary, by 6.9%. Ireland (17.7%) and Sweden (19.9%) came next.
Eurostat also compares prices with the previous month. Diesel and petrol cost more in September than in August in 26 countries. Across the EU, diesel is 5.9% dearer and petrol 6.7%. A month earlier, in August against July, diesel rose by 8.3% and petrol by 3.3%.
In Bulgaria, diesel went up by 5.5% in a month and petrol by 6.3%.
For diesel, the biggest monthly jumps were in Sweden (12.8%), Latvia (10.3%) and Poland (9.7%). The smallest were in Spain (2.4%), Croatia (2.5%) and Romania (3.0%).
Petrol rose most in Sweden, by 13.8%, followed by Poland at 9.7% and Estonia at 9.5%. The smallest monthly rises were in Cyprus (3.8%), Romania (4.2%) and Slovenia (4.6%).