EF English Proficiency Index

The EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) attempts to rank countries by the equity of English language skills amongst those adults who took the EF test. It is the product of EF Education First, an international education company, and draws its conclusions from data collected via English tests available for free over the internet. The index is an online survey first published in 2011 based on test data from 1.7 million test takers. The most recent edition was released in November 2025.

Methodology

The EF EPI 2025 edition was calculated using test data from 2.2 million test takers in 2024. The test takers were self-selected. 123 countries and territories appear in this edition of the index. In order to be included, a country was required to have at least 400 test takers.

Report

The report is composed of a country ranking table, several pages of analysis with graphs correlating other economic and social factors with English proficiency, and analysis of each region or continent. The 2025 report includes English proficiency levels by gender, age group, and region, within countries, and some English proficiency scores by city. The website displays portions of the report and has analysis of English skills in many countries and territories.

Primary conclusions

• Exports per capita, gross national income per capita and innovation all correlate positively with English proficiency.
• English proficiency levels are evolving at different rates in different countries, including a few countries with declining English skills.
• Europe has the highest proficiency in English, while the Middle East averages the lowest.

2025 country rankings

Below are the latest country scores, proficiency bands, and rankings as published in 2025. Singapore, which had long ranked highly and was frequently the top performer in Asia in earlier editions, was excluded from the index since 2025 after being re-classified as a native English-speaking country.

2025 capital city rankings

Similar reports

The European Commission performed a language survey, SurveyLang, which tested a representative sample of 15-year-old European students on their foreign language skills. The report and data sets were released for 13 European countries in June 2012.

Criticisms

The EF English Proficiency Index has been the subject of criticism in literature. From the point of view of methodology, it suffers from self-selection bias. Instead of testing the level of English proficiency in the population, it tests the level of English of those who self-select. Moreover, the countries at the top of the rankings are often those whose official languages are gradually subject to 'domain loss' in favour of English, because they are being used less and less in scientific research, academic teaching and multinational corporations. The selection bias is noted but not mitigated in EF's analysis.

See also

• English as a second or foreign language
• Test of English as a Foreign Language

External links