REVEALED: Countries That Are Most And Least Proficient In English (Among Non-Native Speakers)

Sweden was ranked first among 88 countries around the world in the 2018 English Proficiency Index compiled by the private education company Education First (EF). Sweden’s English proficiency was evaluated as “very high,” with a score of 70.72 points, followed by the Netherlands (70.31), Singapore (68.63), Norway (68.38), and Denmark (67.34), rounding out the top five.

Ahead of Luxembourg in 7th place was South Africa, while Luxembourg topped Finland, which was ranked 8th this year, closely followed by Slovenia (9th) and Germany (10th).

The top spot in Europe was taken by Sweden, followed by the Netherlands (70.31), Norway (68.38), Denmark (67.34), and Luxembourg (66.33).

The top spot in Asia was taken by Singapore (68.63), followed by the Philippines (61.84), Malaysia (59.32), India (57.13), and Hong Kong (56.38), all five of which were once ruled as colonies of English-speaking countries.

Index ranks countries and regions where English is learned as a second language by the average level of English language skills amongst those aged 18 and older.

Countries That Are Most And Least Proficient In English:

English proficiency: Very high

01 Sweden
02 Netherlands
03 Singapore
04 Norway
05 Denmark
06 South Africa
07 Luxembourg
08 Finland
09 Slovenia
10 Germany
11 Belgium
12 Austria

English proficiency: High

13 Poland
14 Philippines
15 Switzerland
16 Romania
17 Croatia
18 Serbia
19 Portugal
20 Czech Republic
21 Hungary
22 Malaysia
23 Greece
24 Slovakia
25 Bulgaria
26 Lithuania
27 Argentina

English proficiency: Moderate

28 India
29 Nigeria
30 Hong Kong, China
31 South Korea
32 Spain
33 Lebanon
34 Italy
35 France
36 Costa Rica
37 Dominican Republic
38 Belarus
39 Senegal
40 Uruguay
41 Vietnam
42 Russia
43 Ukraine
44 Macau, China

English proficiency: Low

45 Georgia
46 Chile
47 China
48 Taiwan, China
49 Japan
50 Pakistan
51 Indonesia
52 Albania
53 Brazil
54 Ethiopia
55 Guatemala
56 Panama
57 Mexico
58 Sri Lanka
59 Peru
60 Colombia
61 Bolivia
62 Egypt
63 Bangladesh
64 Thailand
65 Ecuador

English proficiency: Very low

66 Iran
67 Morocco
68 Tunisia
69 Honduras
70 El Salvador
71 U.A.E.
72 Nicaragua
73 Turkey
74 Jordan
75 Venezuela
76 Syria
77 Azerbaijan
78 Kuwait
79 Oman
80 Kazakhstan
81 Algeria
82 Myanmar
83 Saudi Arabia
84 Afghanistan
85 Cambodia
86 Uzbekistan
87 Iraq
88 Libya

Also read: The Most (And The Least) Attractive English Accents In The World.