Increasing fuel consumption may be the consequence of suburbanization of the work force, increasing income and car ownership, and reduction of passenger numbers per vehicle. Fuel consumption is a good indicator of automobile dependence and, for certain countries, of import oil dependence. This indicator has many linkages to other socioeconomic and environmental indicators, especially those related to consumption, human settlements, and protection of the atmosphere. In consequence, there are implications for ambient concentration of pollutants in urban areas, human health, ozone depletion, and expenditure on air pollution abatement. No international targets have been established.
Some countries have fuel consumption targets for the automobile vehicle fleet.
Fuel consumption is always available at the national level, but it is more difficult to calculate for the city, as much fuel purchased in the city may be used for intercity hauling. Fuel purchased within the city forms part of the city product, so one approach is to count all fuel purchased within the city. On the other hand, if the emphasis is on resource usage within the city, then only intra urban trips should be counted, and it may be preferable to multiply the size of the vehicle fleet of personal and commercial vehicles by estimated average fuel consumption. As such, it is a Driving Force indicator within the DSR Framework. Data for the indicator are not as readily available as for countries as a whole.