The pretty European country that’s an English speaker’s dream

Brits visiting Norway’s stunning fjords can rest assured they’ll have no trouble communicating, as the country was ranked second globally for English proficiency.

Education First (EF) analysed the results of 2.1 million non-native English speakers across 116 countries, and Norway made it to second place with 610 points out of a possible 800.

Norway’s top city for English is unsurprisingly Oslo with a score of 614, and the best region is Vestlandet with a score of 625. The most proficient age group is 21-25 year olds. 

Men in Norway are slightly more proficient than women, according to the analysis, with scores of 634 and 586 respectively. 

Norway is not alone, as men’s English proficiency is higher than women’s in 40 countries. Since last year however, women’s English proficiency remained stable globally while men’s declined, which has narrowed the gender gap. 

Although there aren’t up to date numbers for the number of speakers in Norway, data from 2013 put the total number of English speakers at around 4.5 million, 88 percent of the population at the time. 

It has a solid position in the “very high proficiency” section of the Education First rankings, coming in above neighbouring Sweden with a score of 608, and Denmark with a score of 603.

Nine out of 10 of the most English-proficient countries in the world are European. Norway came just behind the Netherlands, which took the top spot for a second year running with 636 points. 

Sweden came in fourth place, followed by Croatia, Portugal, Denmark, Greece, Austria and Germany in 10th place. 

The only non-European country to make it to the list was Singapore, which ranked third globally. 

The worldwide level of English proficiency has declined for the fourth year running, with 60 percent of countries in the index scoring lower this year than in 2023.