Top 25 Countries in the 2023 English Proficiency Index

What We’re Showing

This graphic ranks the top 25 countries according to their English skills. This data comes from the EF English Proficiency Index, which aggregated the test results of 2.2M adults from 113 countries & regions.

Methodology

Countries where English is the primary natively spoken language are not included in this ranking. Ranks are determined by each country’s average score in the EF Standard English Test (EF SET).

Proficiency bands are as follows:

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

English proficiency among younger adults is falling

According to EF, global English proficiency has been falling among people aged 18-20 years. In 2015, this cohort scored on average 537 pts (Moderate proficiency), while in 2023, it scored 448 pts (Very low proficiency).

No significant decline has been measured across older age groups.