Which countries are best at English as a second language?
These charts reveal where English is most widely spoken as a second language. Image: REUTERS
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
Stay up to date:
Future of Work
English is the world’s most widely spoken language but is unusual in the fact that the vast majority of speakers are not ‘native’.
Of the approximately 1.5 billion people who speak English, less than 400 million use it as a first language. That means over 1 billion speak it as a secondary language.
The English Proficiency Index has published its latest research on where English is learned around the world and quality of teaching in each country to find the places with the highest proficiency of English as a second language.
The Netherlands has emerged as the nation with the highest English language proficiency, according to the EF English Proficiency Index, with a score of 72. It is ahead of five other northern European nations at the top of the chart.
In fact, the only non-European nation in the top ten is Singapore at number six.
English Speaking Countries in Europe
It is not surprising that Europe has so many nations near the top of the Index given historical trade links with the UK and the fact that it is one of three ‘working languages’, along with French and German, of the European Commission.
English Speaking Countries in Asia
Although European nations feature prominently at the top of the Index, Asia has a higher overall average proficiency.
Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines all received strong ratings.
English in Latin America
Argentina stands out as the most proficient Latin American nation – only it and the Dominican Republic are rated higher than ‘low’ or ‘very low’ proficiency.
English in Middle East and North Africa
The poorest performing region is the Middle East and North Africa where all but two nations – Morocco and the United Arab Emirates are rated very low.
English related to Innovation and wealth
The report found that better English in a country correlates with higher income, higher levels of innovation and a better quality of life
In nearly all countries surveyed, women had stronger English skills than men.
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Related topics:
The Agenda Weekly
A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.
More on Education and SkillsSee all
Carlos Sanvee
September 6, 2024
Sagar Goel, Joerg Hildebrandt, Leila Hoteit and Sriramprasad Rangarajan
August 15, 2024
Phil Baty
August 5, 2024
Rebecca Geldard
July 31, 2024
Ahmed Mazhari
July 31, 2024