EF English Proficiency Index

Country ranking of English language skills

The EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) attempts to rank countries by the equity of English language skills amongst those adults who took the EF test.^[2] It is the product of EF Education First, an international education company, and draws its conclusions from data collected via English tests available for free over the internet.^[3]^[4] The index is an online survey first published in 2011^[5] based on test data from 1.7 million test takers.^[6] The most recent edition was released in November 2023.^[7]^[8]

Methodology

The EF EPI 2023 edition was calculated using test data from 2.1 million test takers in 2022. The test takers were self-selected. 113 countries and territories appear in this edition of the index. In order to be included, a country was required to have at least 400 test takers.^[9]

Report

The report is composed of a country ranking table, several pages of analysis with graphs correlating other economic and social factors with English proficiency, and analysis of each region or continent. The 2023 report includes English proficiency levels by gender, age group, and region, within countries, and some English proficiency scores by city. The website displays portions of the report and has analysis of English skills in many countries and territories.^[9]

Primary conclusions

Exports per capita, gross national income per capita and innovation all correlate positively with English proficiency.^[10]
English proficiency levels are evolving at different rates in different countries, including a few countries with declining English skills.^[11]
Europe has the highest proficiency in English, while the Middle East averages the lowest.^[12]

2023 country rankings

Below are the latest country scores, proficiency bands, and rankings as published in 2023.^[1]

2023 rank	Country	2023 score	2023 proficiency band
1	Netherlands	647	Very high proficiency
2	Singapore	631	Very high proficiency
3	Austria	616	Very high proficiency
4	Denmark	615	Very high proficiency
5	Norway	614	Very high proficiency
6	Sweden	609	Very high proficiency
7	Belgium	608	Very high proficiency
8	Portugal	607	Very high proficiency
9	South Africa	605	Very high proficiency
10	Germany	604	Very high proficiency
11	Croatia	603	Very high proficiency
12	Greece	602	Very high proficiency
13	Poland	598	High proficiency
14	Finland	597	High proficiency
15	Romania	596	High proficiency
16	Bulgaria	589	High proficiency
17	Hungary	588	High proficiency
18	Slovakia	587	High proficiency
19	Kenya	584	High proficiency
20	Philippines	578	High proficiency
21	Lithuania	576	High proficiency
22	Luxembourg	575	High proficiency
23	Estonia	570	High proficiency
24	Serbia	569	High proficiency
25	Malaysia	568	High proficiency
26	Czech Republic	565	High proficiency
27	Nigeria	562	High proficiency
28	Argentina	560	High proficiency
29	Hong Kong	558	High proficiency
30	Switzerland	553	High proficiency
31	Honduras	544	Moderate proficiency
32	Georgia	541	Moderate proficiency
33	Belarus	539	Moderate proficiency
34	Ghana	537	Moderate proficiency
35	Italy	535	Moderate proficiency
35	Moldova	535	Moderate proficiency
35	Spain	535	Moderate proficiency
38	Costa Rica	534	Moderate proficiency
39	Albania	533	Moderate proficiency
39	Uruguay	533	Moderate proficiency
41	Bolivia	532	Moderate proficiency
41	Russia	532	Moderate proficiency
43	Cuba	531	Moderate proficiency
43	France	531	Moderate proficiency
45	Paraguay	530	Moderate proficiency
45	Ukraine	530	Moderate proficiency
47	Uganda	529	Moderate proficiency
48	Armenia	528	Moderate proficiency
49	South Korea	525	Moderate proficiency
50	El Salvador	524	Moderate proficiency
51	Peru	521	Moderate proficiency
52	Chile	518	Moderate proficiency
53	Guatemala	515	Moderate proficiency
54	Israel	514	Moderate proficiency
55	Dominican Republic	512	Moderate proficiency
56	Venezuela	508	Moderate proficiency
57	Nepal	507	Moderate proficiency
58	Iran	505	Moderate proficiency
58	Vietnam	505	Moderate proficiency
60	Bangladesh	504	Moderate proficiency
60	India	504	Moderate proficiency
62	Nicaragua	503	Moderate proficiency
63	Tunisia	502	Moderate proficiency
64	Pakistan	497	Low proficiency
65	Lebanon	496	Low proficiency
66	Turkey	493	Low proficiency
67	Sri Lanka	491	Low proficiency
67	Tanzania	491	Low proficiency
69	Ethiopia	490	Low proficiency
70	Brazil	487	Low proficiency
71	Panama	486	Low proficiency
71	United Arab Emirates	486	Low proficiency
73	Mongolia	482	Low proficiency
73	Qatar	482	Low proficiency
75	Colombia	480	Low proficiency
76	Morocco	478	Low proficiency
77	Algeria	475	Low proficiency
78	Madagascar	474	Low proficiency
79	Indonesia	473	Low proficiency
80	Ecuador	467	Low proficiency
80	Syria	467	Low proficiency
82	China	464	Low proficiency
83	Azerbaijan	463	Low proficiency
83	Egypt	463	Low proficiency
85	Kuwait	461	Low proficiency
86	Malawi	460	Low proficiency
87	Japan	457	Low proficiency
88	Afghanistan	456	Low proficiency
89	Mexico	451	Low proficiency
90	Kyrgyzstan	450	Low proficiency
90	Myanmar	450	Low proficiency
92	Palestine	445	Very low proficiency
93	Uzbekistan	442	Very low proficiency
94	Cameroon	438	Very low proficiency
94	Senegal	438	Very low proficiency
96	Jordan	431	Very low proficiency
97	Sudan	430	Very low proficiency
98	Cambodia	421	Very low proficiency
98	Haiti	421	Very low proficiency
100	Oman	418	Very low proficiency
101	Angola	416	Very low proficiency
101	Benin	416	Very low proficiency
101	Thailand	416	Very low proficiency
104	Kazakhstan	415	Very low proficiency
105	Somalia	411	Very low proficiency
106	Iraq	410	Very low proficiency
107	Ivory Coast	409	Very low proficiency
108	Saudi Arabia	408	Very low proficiency
109	Rwanda	405	Very low proficiency
110	Libya	392	Very low proficiency
110	Yemen	392	Very low proficiency
112	Tajikistan	388	Very low proficiency
113	Democratic Republic of the Congo	385	Very low proficiency

2023 capital city rankings

City	2023 score	2023 proficiency band
Amsterdam	646	Very high
Vienna	640	Very high
Copenhagen	639	Very high
Stockholm	637	Very high
Oslo	629	Very high
Berlin	625	Very high
Sofia	622	Very high
Bern	621	Very high
Tallinn	621	Very high
Helsinki	617	Very high
Cape Town	614	Very high
Zagreb	612	Very high
Athens	611	Very high
Vilnius	610	Very high
Lisbon	609	Very high
Warsaw	605	Very high
Bucharest	602	Very high
Budapest	600	Very high
Belgrade	594	High
Bratislava	592	High
Buenos Aires	592	High
Brussels	589	High
Prague	589	High
Manila	587	High
Nairobi	586	High
Paris	579	High
Lagos	578	High
Chișinău	573	High
Kuala Lumpur	564	High
La Paz	562	High
Seoul	559	High
Tirana	559	High
Madrid	558	High
Rome	555	High
Santiago	553	High
Accra	552	High
Tbilisi	551	High
Tegucigalpa	551	High
Asunción	549	Moderate
Minsk	549	Moderate
Montevideo	549	Moderate
San José	549	Moderate
Kyiv	547	Moderate
Beirut	545	Moderate
Havana	543	Moderate
Brasília	542	Moderate
Moscow	542	Moderate
Hanoi	538	Moderate
Islamabad	538	Moderate
Yerevan	536	Moderate
Lima	536	Moderate
San Salvador	534	Moderate
Tunis	533	Moderate
Jakarta	531	Moderate
Colombo	528	Moderate
Santo Domingo	528	Moderate
Kathmandu	527	Moderate
Caracas	521	Moderate
Dhaka	521	Moderate
Guatemala City	521	Moderate
Tehran	521	Moderate
Kampala	520	Moderate
Addis Ababa	515	Moderate
Dar es Salaam	515	Moderate
Beijing	514	Moderate
Algiers	513	Moderate
Quito	513	Moderate
Rio de Janeiro	513	Moderate
Shanghai	512	Moderate
Managua	511	Moderate
Dubai	510	Moderate
Rabat	506	Moderate
Ankara	503	Moderate
Tokyo	503	Moderate
Jerusalem	500	Moderate
Medellín	500	Moderate
Ulaanbaatar	500	Moderate
Panama City	491	Low
Astana	485	Low
Bishkek	484	Low
Doha	484	Low
Damascus	477	Low
Cairo	476	Low
Guangzhou	475	Low
Amman	470	Low
Baku	466	Low
Mexico City	462	Low
Kabul	458	Low
Bangkok	457	Low
Delhi	451	Low
Kuwait City	446	Very low
Tashkent	445	Very low
Mogadishu	442	Very low
Khartoum	440	Very low
Muscat	436	Very low
Yaoundé	436	Very low
Naypyidaw	433	Very low
Luanda	428	Very low
Port-au-Prince	427	Very low
Abidjan	425	Very low
Baghdad	425	Very low
Phnom Penh	422	Very low
Kinshasa	421	Very low
Tripoli	410	Very low
Kigali	409	Very low
Sanaa	408	Very low
Riyadh	400	Very low
Dushanbe	392	Very low

Similar reports

The European Commission performed a language survey, SurveyLang, which tested a representative sample of 15-year-old European students on their foreign language skills. The report and data sets were released for 13 European countries in June 2012.^[13]

Criticisms

The EF English Proficiency Index has been the subject of criticism in literature. From the point of view of methodology, it suffers from self-selection bias. Instead of testing the level of English proficiency in the population, it tests the level of English of those who self-select. ^[14] On a political level, the EF English Proficiency Index can promote linguistic imperialism. EF does not create a ranking of countries on the basis of ability to speak a second language, but only on English proficiency, which is implicitly singled out as the only language that counts to know. English-speaking countries are therefore excluded from the ranking and implicitly designated as the 'gold standard' to be achieved. The EF English Proficiency Index thus gives a worldwide quantitative representation of the 'deficit model', whereby a country's level of progress is measured on the benchmark of a subset of countries. Moreover, the countries at the top of the rankings are often those whose official languages are gradually subject to 'domain loss' in favour of English, because they are being used less and less in scientific research, academic teaching and multinational corporations.^[15]

References

^ ^a ^b "EF EPI 2023 - EF English Proficiency Index". 2023. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
^ English: Who speaks English? Archived 2 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine. The Economist. Retrieved on 2011-05-29.
^ Study Offers Snapshot of Global English-Language-Learner Trends Archived 16 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Education Week. Retrieved on 2017-01-17.
^ The EF SET powers the EF EPI Archived 24 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine. EF SET. Retrieved on 2017-10-05.
^ The EF EPI Archived 30 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine. ef.com. Retrieved on 2017-10-05.
^ Low English Levels Can Hurt Countries' Progress Archived 17 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine. New York Times. Retrieved on 2017-01-17.
^ "EF English Proficiency Index" (PDF). ef.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 May 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
^ Women and managers are better at speaking English, study on proficiency finds Archived 16 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Business Insider. Retrieved on 2018-11-09
^ ^a ^b EF English Proficiency Index – Comparing English skills between countries – EF EPI Archived 18 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Ef.com. Retrieved on 2018-11-09.
^ Minh Tran: Countries with High English Proficiency Are More Innovative Archived 2 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Harvard Business Review. "Minh Tran is Director of Research and Partnerships for EF Education First and a member of the team that launched the EF Standard English Test." Retrieved on 2017-01-17.
^ How Well Does Your Country Speak English? Archived 30 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Voice of America. Retrieved on 2017-1-17.
^ Which countries are best at English as a second language? Archived 8 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine. World Economic Forum. Retrieved on 2017-1-17.
^ SurveyLang project Archived 23 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine. European Commission. Retrieved on 2012-09-20.
^ [1] Archived 28 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Michele Gazzola & Daniele Mazzacani, "Il valore economico del plurilinguismo". Retrieved on 2023-01-17.
^ [2] Archived 8 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine. "English takes over at Dutch universities, just 40% of courses still in Dutch", DutchNews.nl. Retrieved on 2016-08-26.