Find out why Belgium scores so high in global non-native English proficiency rankings;
✔ Belgium secures 7th out of 113 in best non-native English speakers' global ranking
✔ Big gap in English proficiency divide between Belgium's northern and southern regions
✔ Youngest age group in Belgium (18-20) surprisingly record the lowest English proficiency score
Belgium in 7th place among the world's best non-native English speakers
Credit: Belga
Belgium has fallen one place in the global ranking of best non-native English speakers, but still maintains its strong position, coming in 7th out of 113, according to the English Proficiency Index 2023, released on Wednesday by Education First (EF).
With 608 points, Belgium remains in a top 10 largely dominated by eight European countries. The Netherlands clinched the top spot with 647 points, similar to 2022. Singapore (631) and Austria (616) complete the top three, followed by Denmark (615), Norway (614), and Sweden (609).
Despite an impressive national average, a growing divide is apparent between the Country’s North and South. People in Flanders scored 660 points, far surpassing Francophones, who scored 531.
With similar results, France finds itself in 43rd place, while French-speaking Swiss trailed even lower (523). However, Switzerland secured the 30th spot thanks to its bilingual and German-speaking communities.
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Throughout Flanders, English proficiency is deemed “very good,” with West Flanders (682) leading the pack.
In the bilingual city of Brussels (574), people's command of English is considered “good,” while in Wallonia it is “average.”
Among the Walloon provinces, Liège (544) performs best, and Namur (505) worst.
Nationally, the youngest group (18-20 years) scored the lowest (585), which EF suggests might be due to the impact of the Coronavirus crisis.
However, improvements were observed in other age groups. The 26-30 year olds led the charge with 650 points, followed closely by the 31-40 year olds (645).
