We all know just how prevalent the English language is in the world. However, did you know that 1 in 4 people speak it? That’s over 1.5 billion English speakers in the world! That being said, most of those people know English as their second (or third or fourth) language! We’re sure you’re curious: which countries have the best English students, and which ones are lagging behind?

Last Updated: 30/08/2023


English speaking countries

English Speakers in the World: Who Are the Best Students and Who Are the Worst?

1.5 billion people speak English. However, not everyone has learned it the same way.

For example, 375 million people speak it as an official language. About 369 million people speak English as a first language and over 898 million people speak it as a foreign language. As a result, there are over one billion English learners across the globe.

We wanted to know, who are the best English students and who are the worst?

To get an idea of the level of English of people in countries besides the US, we researched:

  • Their education
  • The distance from an English-speaking country
  • The age from which they began to learn it
  • And other general demographics

We also highlighted some of the best practices used by countries to optimize their English studies, at school or elsewhere. All of the data we found went into the infographic below to give you an image of the ranking of the English-speaking countries in the world!

 

Who Are the Best English Speakers in the World?

According to the 2022 Education First English Proficiency Index, these are the countries with the best English skills:

  1. The Netherlands
  2. Singapore
  3. Austria
  4. Norway
  5. Denmark
  6. Belgium
  7. Sweden
  8. Finland
  9. Portugal
  10. Germany
  11. Croatia
  12. South Africa
  13. Poland
  14. Greece
  15. Slovakia

 

Who Are the Worst English Speakers in the World?

Unfortunately, in any ranking, someone has to come in last. Overall, the Middle East region has the lowest composite score. Here are the countries at the bottom of the list:

  1. Thailand
  2. Haiti
  3. Kazakhstan
  4. Somalia
  5. Oman
  6. Saudi Arabia
  7. Iraq
  8. Côte d’Ivoire
  9. Angola
  10. Tajikistan
  11. Rwanda
  12. Libya
  13. Yemen
  14. Democratic Republic of the Congo
  15. Laos

 

Geographical Breakdown: English Proficiency by Country and Region

Where in the world do people speak the best English?

English speakers in European countries

English Speakers in the World

As you can see in the lists above, most countries at the top of the list are in Europe. People from Scandinavian countries, the Dutch, Germans, Austrians, Belgians, and the Portuguese tend to speak English extremely well. The same goes for Spaniards (33rd), Italians (32nd), and the French (34th).

That being said, not all English language studies rank these countries the same. An EU study done in 2012 found that the French actually ranked in 14th place, far ahead of both Italy (21st) and Spain (24th). This conflicting data shows how hard it is to measure the English skills of an entire population accurately.

Language learning in Europe

At what age do students start learning a foreign language in Europe?

  • Before 5 years of age in Spain
  • Starting at 6-7 in France, Italy, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia
  • From 8-9 years old in Portugal, Luxembourg, Germany, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, and Denmark
  • Around 10 years of age in the U.K., Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, and Lithuania

Although the French start to learn English relatively early, curriculum requirements don’t evolve much, so students often learn the same basic vocabulary each year, at least at the beginning. In some other countries, however, the quantity and difficulty of English lessons evolve at the same pace as that of young students. This could account for their relatively low ranking.

  • For pupils aged 9 to 11, schools in France dedicate around 7% of teaching time to modern foreign languages.
  • Luxembourg, around 20%
  • Greece, around 15%
  • Italy, around 12%
  • Spain, Denmark, and even Germany devote around 10% of their lessons to language.

How about Latin America?

When it comes to Latin America, Argentinians have the best level of English, in 30th place. Despite being a key economic player in this part of the world, Brazil does not show a high level of proficiency, coming in at 58th, after Peru, Chile, Costa Rica, and 8 other Latin American countries. Ecuador, Mexico, and Haiti occupy the bottom positions in the ranking in this region.

What’s Asia’s relationship with English?

Excluding Singapore and Malaysia, both of which have a good level of English proficiency due to colonialism, overall, the English situation in Asia is not great. That is especially true for Japan (80th), Thailand (97th), and Cambodia (94th).

On the other hand, South Korea seems to have made a lot of progress recently and now holds the 36th position.

How good at English are Africans?

You may be wondering why there aren’t many African countries on the list of the best/worst English learners. Perhaps it’s because English is an official language in 21 African countries.

Did you know that there are about 6.5 million native English speakers in Africa? (Which actually isn’t a lot, considering that Africa is an extremely linguistically diverse continent and its 1 billion+ inhabitants speak an estimated 1,200-3,000 languages!) English is an official language in many places, like Ghana, Nigeria, and Botswana. However, in some countries like Zimbabwe, English is an official language but only the native language of about 2% of the population.

In fact, it may just be due to the data EF was able to collect for their study. 2.1 million people took their test, but only 20 of the 54 countries on the African continent participated (compared to 35 in Europe and 24 in Asia).

Is it about distance?

Distance is another factor to take into account.

The Dutch have a good reputation for their level of English… and the Netherlands is less than 130 miles from the United Kingdom if you go straight across the English Channel.

However, distance isn’t always a determining factor. We often hear how Japanese people aren’t any good at speaking English… well, they are located more than 5,250 miles away from the nearest major English-speaking country (Australia).

Mexicans are the closest neighbors to the United States, yet they aren’t known for having excellent English. In fact, they came in with a “very low” score placing them 88th in the ranking.

…or diffusion of language?

Swedes hold first place. Think about it, where else in the world could they possibly use their native language? When traveling abroad, they have to communicate somehow… Since English is so widespread, it’s often the go-to intermediary language for people who don’t speak the same language.

Spain, on the other hand—as with many countries in Latin America—is clearly not among the countries with the highest level. But then again, they are able to communicate in Spanish in many other countries. Useful!

 

Demographic Factors of English Speakers in the World

English Speakers in the World

Battle of the sexes

The EF study found that men speak English better than women, no matter their geographical location. This is one metric that changed a lot in the past few years; in 2015, women outscored men in every geographical area.

According to 2022 EF EPI test results:

  • Men around the world narrowly outscored women in all five regions. They received an average score of 511 compared to 495 for women.
  • For the first time since EF started its annual study, African men received a higher average score (490) than women (489).
  • The largest gender gap was measured in Asia, where men outscored women by 25 points (514 to 489).
  • European men surpassed women, receiving an average score of 57.05 and men got an average of 56.37, compared to 56.56 and 54.74 in 2015.
  • The gender gap is getting narrower in the Middle East, where men outscored women 456 to 435, a 21-point difference compared to a 31-point gap the previous year.
  • It was a tight race in Latin America, but men prevailed, with an average score of 506 to 484.

 

Infographic: Countries With the Highest English Proficiency

Click on the image below to enlarge it:

English Speakers in the World

*These rankings are updated each year, so our infographic may not reflect the most current data.

Share our infographic on your site:

 

Countries Where English Is the Official Language

There are a few countries you won’t find on the list of best English students. And that’s because they speak English as a native language! But where is English an official language? Below, you’ll find a list of the over 60 countries around the world where English is an official, or co-official, language. Some of them may surprise you!

Country/TerritoryPopulationOfficial Language(s)
American Samoa46,366Samoan, English
Anguilla15,094English
Antigua and Barbuda97,118English
Australia25,766,605None (English is the de facto language but there are also hundreds of Aboriginal languages)
Bahamas389,482English
Barbados287,025English
Belize390,353English
Botswana2,346,179English, Tswana
British Virgin Islands30,030English
Cameroon25,876,380French, English
Canada36,991,981French, English
Dominica71,808English
Falkland Islands2,932English
Fiji889,953Fiji Hindi, Fijian, English
Gambia2,347,706English
Ghana30,792,608English
Gibraltar34,003English
Grenada112,003English
Guyana782,766English
Hong Kong7,507,400Chinese, English
India1,366,417,754Hindi, English
Ireland5,007,069Irish, English
Jamaica2,948,279English
Kenya52,573,973Swahili, English
Kiribati117,606English, Kiribati (or Gilbertese)
Lesotho2,125,268English, Sotho
Liberia4,937,374English
Malawi18,628,747English
Malta502,653Maltese, English
Mauritius1,265,711French, English
Federated States of Micronesia113,815English
Namibia2,494,530English
Nauru10,084English, Nauruan
New Zealand4,841,000English, Māori, New Zealand Sign Language
Nigeria200,963,599English
Northern Mariana Islands57,216English, Chamorro, Carolinian
Pakistan216,565,318Urdu, English
Palau18,233English, Palauan
Papua New Guinea8,776,109Tok Pisin, English, Hiri Motu, Papua New Guinean Sign Language
Philippines108,116,615English, Filipino
Puerto Rico3,193,694Spanish, English
Rwanda12,626,950Swahili, English, Kinyarwanda, French
Saint Kitts and Nevis52,823English
Saint Lucia182,790English
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines100,455English
Seychelles97,625French, Seychellois Creole, English
Sierra Leone7,813,215English
Singapore5,703,569Malay, English, Tamil, Singaporean Mandarin
Solomon Islands669,823English
South Africa58,558,270English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, Sepedi, Tswana, Southern Sotho, Tsonga, Swazi, Venda, Southern Ndebele, South African Sign Language
Sudan42,813,238Arabic, English
Eswatini1,093,238English, Swati
Tanzania58,005,463Swahili, English
Tonga100,209Tongan, English
Trinidad and Tobago1,394,973English
Tuvalu11,646Tuvaluan, English
Uganda44,269,594Swahili, English
United Kingdom66,834,405English
United States328,239,523None (but English and some indigenous languages are official languages of certain states)
Vanuatu299,882French, Bislama, English
United States Virgin Islands104,737English
Samoa202,506Samoan, English
Zambia17,861,030English
Zimbabwe14,645,468Chewa, Chibarwe, English, Kalanga, Koisan, Nambya, Ndau, Ndebele, Shangani, Shona, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zimbabwean Sign Language

 

Where Do YOU Stand?

If you are an English learner, you might be wondering how you measure up to the “average” person in your country. But how…? Well, you could participate in EF’s study next year! But in the meantime, why not read our guide to finding out your level of English? Our English teachers even developed a self-assessment to find out where you fall on the CEFR scale:

 

Take our English level test

 

Bonus Video: Who Has the World’s Best English?

Lisa-Joy recently made a video all about the non-English-speaking countries with the best English. Check it out for an overview of the rankings!

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more fun (and free!) language-related content

 

Good Habits to Adopt to Become a Better English Speaker

  1. Only watching movies in their original language (rather than dubbed)

    93% of Finns say they watch all movies in their original version. In many other of the top countries, dubbing foreign movies and series is very rare.

    In France, however, broadcasting a TV program without subtitles decreases its rating by 30%*… (it’s not all school’s fault!).

  2. Encouraging spoken practice in school

    In Denmark, teachers favor discussions and debates over grammar and spelling. In Italy, France and Spain, on the other hand, writing and spelling still play a major role in the classroom.

  3. Staying motivated and determined

    The level of English is generally higher in countries where the country’s national language isn’t very well known around the world, such as Sweden, Denmark, or Romania.

    On the contrary, in Spanish-speaking and French-speaking countries, people tend to be a bit lazy… (we love you, French and Spanish speakers!) as they can make themselves understood quite easily when abroad. If you can communicate just fine and don’t see a reason to learn English, you might not be very enthusiastic about learning it. Motivation plays an essential role.

  4. Being consistent

    It’s better to study for 10 minutes every day than an hour once a month. Regularity is key to making quick progress! Here’s how you can make sure to study English every day.

  5. Learning and having fun with the latest technologies

    In the Netherlands, children watch movies during their English lessons. In Sweden, children learn with tablets and other interactive methods. We love technology here at MosaLingua, so we’ve written several articles about how to combine language learning and digital activities:

I hope you enjoyed this infographic on English speakers in the world and the rest of the blog post, which contains a bit more information. If you did, take a moment to rate it and share it with your friends!