The EF English Proficiency Index 2024 remains a key reference point for understanding global English skills. Based on test data from over 2.1 million adult participants in 2023, the index ranks 116 countries according to the average level of English proficiency among those who took part. Though the test is voluntary and self-selected, it offers a broad comparative snapshot.
European countries continue to lead the EF EPI 2024. The Netherlands ranks first, followed by very high proficiency countries like Norway, Sweden, Croatia, Portugal, and Denmark. Germany appears in the high proficiency band, along with Romania, Belgium, and Poland. France, Spain, and Italy fall into the moderate category, reflecting regional differences in English education and use.
Note: European countries not listed either had no available data or use English as an official or de facto national language, and are therefore not included in the ranking.
The results reveal longstanding regional disparities in language education and access. Source
I imagine every country has ‘pockets’ where English-language proficiency is better than others.
Swedes in general have very good English. Although older people and people in small towns tend to have more limited proficiency than young people and people living in metropolises, English language skills have grown since I have been living here.
It is rue that French people have never really been interested in learning English. They much prefer Spanish, Italian or even German.
However the French Education System has evolved these past ten years organising school trips to the UK having British or American assistants in most schools, sending students to internships in the UK or the USA, developing foreign exchanges and most of all assessing the students level in English for everyone at the age of 15, compulsory, on top of the Baccalaureat exam at 18 years old. Hence a slight improvement of the level but progress is still to be made!
I am not surprised to see France so low in the rankings!… In my time, when we learned languages, we learned to write them but never really to speak them… It was a shock for some of us who got to meet native speakers and not really understand what you guys were saying, especially if you didn’t speak with the Queen’s accent!…
That must have been a long time ago and things have changed.
I met a few French exchange students (about 15 years old) and their German AND English was non existent. It seems that it hasn’t actually evolved all that much!