And it isn’t just English skills improving elsewhere. The Czech Republic’s EF EPI score, which is measured by the results of free online English language tests taken at the Education First website, has dropped from 59.99 in 2018 to 59.30 in 2019.
Still, the rating is good enough for the Czech Republic to maintain its status as one of fifteen countries with a “High” level of English proficiency.
For comparison, the Czech Republic falls below Hungary (ranked #15) and Romania (#16), as well as Kenya (#18). Czech neighbor Slovakia comes in at #25.
Interestingly, Czech men have overtaken women in the 2019 rankings. Last year, men in the Czech Republic scored 59.24, while women scored 60.21. That has reversed in the 2019 results, with men rising to 60.12 and Czech women falling to 58.85.
Globally, women tend to score slightly better than men with an average 53.23 vs. 53.03.
While the Czech Republic has maintained it’s “High” English Proficiency rating since 2015, the country has dropped from #16 in the 2016 EPI to #20 in 2017 and 2018, and down to #23 in the 2019 rankings.
Netherlands has overtaken Sweden, last year’s #1, to top the 2019 EF EPI with a score of 70.27. Norway, Denmark, and Singapore round out the top 5.
They are among a total of 14 countries are currently rated as having a “Very High” level of English proficiency, a list that also includes Czech neighbors Austria (#8), Germany (#10), and Poland (#11).