Beijing Has China's Best English, While Country as Whole Drops to World's 91st
China's English proficiency has dropped to 91st out of 116 countries, according to the 2024 EF English Proficiency Index (EPI), with an EF EPI score of 455. This is below the global average score of 477 and places China in the "low proficiency" tier and dangerously close to the "very low proficiency" tier, given for scores of less than 450. Within Asia, China ranked 15th out of 23 countries.
At 91st, China is outranked by Russia (44), South Korea (50), Cuba (52), Vietnam (63), Egypt (82), Mongolia (84) and Kyrgystan (88), amongst others.
When examined alone, Beijing has the highest ranking amongst China's major mainland cities , scoring 518, a few points ahead of Shanghai which ranked second at 511. This places both cities in the "moderate proficiency" tier. The lowest ranked cities were Chongqing and Guangzhou, with scores of 454 and 480 respectively.
It should come as no surprise that for regional scores Hong Kong was ranked at number one with a score of 459, placing it just shy of the "high proficiency" tier. Zhejiang came second with a score of 508 and the two lowest ranked regions were Yunnan and Henan with scores of 454 and 421 respectively.
China's global ranking of 91 follows a downward trend in China’s English proficiency in recent years, with the country falling to 62nd position in 2022 and then 82nd position in 2023, a significant decline from its rankings of 49 in 2021 and 38 in 2020.
According to the British Council, the decline is partly due to Covid which made it harder to practice and study English as well as policy changes such as the "double reduction" policy implemented in 2022, aimed at reducing homework and regulating after-school tutoring. They also point towards the reduction of the importance of English within China's national curriculum and more relaxed English requirements at Chinese universities being a factor.
Another thing to note about this year's ranking is that there has been a very small uptick in China’s English proficiency for 21 to 30 year olds compared to last year. However, there was a downward turn for 18 to 20 year olds which fell from 447 points to 437 points and for 31+ year olds there was also a slight drop in points.
Interestingly, gender trends reveal a relatively balanced proficiency rate between males and females in the past two years, a significant change from the 2020 to 2022 period when the female score was significantly higher than the male score.
To see the full EF English Proficiency Index results for China you can follow this link: www.ef.com/wwen/epi/regions/asia/china/.
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Images: Unsplash, courtesy of EF English Proficiency Index
