Culture

Ranked: Top Countries by Their Second-Language English Proficiency

Published

2 weeks ago

September 23, 2024

Marcus Lu

Graphics/Design:

Anna Diederichs

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

Top Countries by Their Second-Language English Proficiency

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

This graphic ranks the top 25 countries according to their English proficiency. Data is sourced from the EF English Proficiency Index, which aggregated the test results of 2.2 million adults accross 113 countries.

Countries where English is the primary natively spoken language—the UK, U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—are not included in this ranking. Ranks are determined by each country’s average score in the EF Standard English Test (EF SET).

English is Europe’s New Lingua Franca

English proficiency is measured in bands with the following scores:

Very high proficiency: 600+
High proficiency: 550-599
Moderate proficiency: 500-549
Low proficiency: 450-499
Very low proficiency: <450

From the data, the Netherlands has the highest English proficiency with an average score of 647.

Rank	Country	Classification	Average Test Score
1	🇳🇱 Netherlands	Very high proficiency	647
2	🇸🇬 Singapore	Very high proficiency	631
3	🇦🇹 Austria	Very high proficiency	616
4	🇩🇰 Denmark	Very high proficiency	615
5	🇳🇴 Norway	Very high proficiency	614
6	🇸🇪 Sweden	Very high proficiency	609
7	🇧🇪 Belgium	Very high proficiency	608
8	🇵🇹 Portugal	Very high proficiency	607
9	🇿🇦 South Africa	Very high proficiency	605
10	🇩🇪 Germany	Very high proficiency	604
11	🇭🇷 Croatia	Very high proficiency	603
12	🇬🇷 Greece	Very high proficiency	602
13	🇵🇱 Poland	High proficiency	598
14	🇫🇮 Finland	High proficiency	597
15	🇷🇴 Romania	High proficiency	596
16	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	High proficiency	589
17	🇭🇺 Hungary	High proficiency	588
18	🇸🇰 Slovakia	High proficiency	587
19	🇰🇪 Kenya	High proficiency	584
20	🇵🇭 Philippines	High proficiency	568
21	🇱🇹 Lithuania	High proficiency	576
22	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	High proficiency	575
23	🇪🇪 Estonia	High proficiency	570
24	🇷🇸 Serbia	High proficiency	569
25	🇲🇾 Malaysia	High proficiency	568

Eleven other countries join the Netherlands in the “very high proficiency” category, all with average test scores above 600. Singapore and South Africa are the only non-European countries in the top 10.

Regionally, Europe has improved its English the most (+50 points) since 2011. Latin America (+42) and the Middle East (+36) rank and second and third respectively.

On a global scale, English proficiency has been falling among those aged 18-20 years. This cohort scored on average 537 points (moderate proficiency) in 2015. By 2023, the average score fell for the same group fell to 448 points, or very low proficiency.

No significant decline has been measured across older age groups.

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