KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia moved up two ranks from last year to make number 12 out of 72 countries in the world in terms of English proficiency, according to a survey by the EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI).
The 2016 report states that Malaysia has a high proficiency EF EPI Score of 60.70 which ranks the nation number 2 out of 19 countries in Asia.
Singapore clinched 6th place in the rankings, making it the only Asian country in the top 10 dominated by European countries. The Philippines took the 13th spot after Malaysia while India was ranked 22. Meanwhile, South Korea was ranked 27th while Hong Kong 30th.
The Netherlands took top spot overall.
Women in Malaysia speak English better than men as found in almost all countries and age groups in the survey. This finding has been consistent across all editions of the EF EPI.
Young adults aged 18 to 25 have the strongest English proficiency worldwide, although some countries have markedly different national trends.
In its sixth edition, the EF EPI is the world’s largest ranking of countries by adult English skills.
Published annually, the EF EPI is an important international benchmark for adult English proficiency which was gauged through an online test taken by 950,000 adults in 2015 and classified into one of the six levels established by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).