Croatians among world’s best non-native English speakers again 

Zagreb (Photo credit: J Duval/Zagreb Tourist Board)

Croatia ranks 11th globally for English proficiency among non-native English-speaking countries, with Zagreb securing the third spot among cities.

Croatia maintained its place among the world’s TOP 15 on the EF English Proficiency Index, which is based on test results of 2.2m adults in 113 countries & regions. 

Croatia’s EF English Proficiency score in 2023 was 603 in the ‘very high proficiency’ band, down from 612 the previous year. 

The latest index was topped by the Netherlands with 47 points. Singapore and Austria were in second and third place respectively, followed by Denmark, Norway and Sweden. 

Belgium, Portugal, South Africa and Germany rounded out the TOP 10, just ahead of Croatia in 11th place. 

2023 country rankings

At the bottom of the list were Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tajikistan and Yemen. 

The index also broke down the data to reveal the cities with top non-native English speakers. 

In 12th place is the Croatian capital Zagreb with 612 points and in the ‘very high proficiency’ band. 

Amsterdam topped the ranking, followed by Vienna, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo. 

Zagreb Image by wirestock on Freepik

More than a billion people speak English as a first or second language, and hundreds of millions more as a third or fourth. The 2023 report includes English proficiency levels by gender, age group, and region, within countries, and some English proficiency scores by city.

Capital city rankings (Wikipedia/CC)

You can see the latest index here.