The English Proficiency Index (EPI), conducted by the international education organization English First, aims to rank countries and regions around the world by English proficiency, based on the largest sample size of test results in the world.

The Netherlands has emerged as the nation with the highest English language proficiency, with a score of 72. It is ahead of five other northern European nations at the top of the chart.

The Czech Republic ranks 27th in the world out of 112 countries included, and is rated as a ‘high proficiency’ country, achieving a score of 563 out of a maximum of 663.

In the global standings, the country deteriorated from the previous year, dropping from 19th to 27th place, the biggest drop of any European country.

At the European level, the Czech Republic ranks 23rd of 35 selected countries, 100 points behind the first-placed Netherlands and 112 points ahead of the last-placed Azerbaijan.

Compared to last year’s data, the country’s English language score has deteriorated by 17 percentage points.

Examining the professions of test takers, the authors found that test takers working in consulting, information technology and engineering had the highest average scores. The gap between different industries has narrowed by 20 per cent between 2012 and 2021, EF said.

“This supports the theory that English is increasingly a universal job requirement. Equalizing English skills across the economy is a positive trend, as it allows for more flexibility on both an individual and a structural level,” the authors said.

Among Czechs who do not speak any foreign language, most are over 50 years old and have at most obtained a secondary education without a high school leaving certificate. About 45% of the population can communicate at some level of English: 14% at a basic level, 10% at a sufficient level, 15% at an intermediate level, and 7% very advanced, according to data from the Czech Statistical Office.

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. 

Where is the purest English spoken?

For years, the people of Inverness have reveled in the proud boast that they speak the best English on the planet. Their clear and melodious pronunciation of the language has been applauded by linguistic experts and dialect experts across the globe.