Singapore is Most Proficient in English Among Asian Countries; No. 2 in Global Rankings

Singapore ranked second out of 111 countries and regions in the English Proficiency Index (EPI) 2022 Edition report by global education company EF Education First. The city-state was categorised under the “Very High Proficiency” band with a score of 642.

The countries were classified into different bands including very high proficiency, high proficiency, moderate proficiency, low proficiency, and very low proficiency. The company surveyed 2.1 million non-native English speakers who took the EF Standard English Test (SET) placement test in 2021. The EF SET evaluated the participants’ reading and listening skills in the English language.

It ensured gender balance among its respondents, which included adult language learners from different age groups. Nevertheless, the index report only considered cities, regions, and countries with a minimum of 400 test takers.

Netherlands came in first in the global ranking with a score of 661, followed by Singapore, then Austria (628) in third, Norway (627) in fourth, and Denmark (625) in fifth place. In Asia alone, Singapore led the ranking, followed by the Philippines (578), Malaysia (574), Hong Kong (561), and South Korea (537), which ranked 22nd, 24th, 31st, and 36th, respectively.

On the other hand, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Laos were at the bottom of the list under “Very Low Proficiency.”

The company determined the total score based on “weighted components, which include the EF SET and the EF EPI of the previous two years.”

The test is available on the internet for free, however, it is “biased toward respondents interested in pursuing language study and younger adults,” the EF read. The company clarified that the index aims to complement data from national test results and language polling data. Therefore, it is not intended to compete with or contradict these data sets.