English levels getting worse in Spain, international report suggests

THE level of English in Spain is getting worse, a new international report suggests.

Spain dropped for the fifth consecutive year in the English First English Proficiency Index to 35^th position with 55.46 points. This puts the country between India and Italy, the only big European country with a worse level of English than the Spanish.

Last year Spain came in at 32^nd with 55.85 points, while in 2014 the country achieved 58.18 and was listed in 20^th place.

The Basques speak the best English of any region in Spain, according to the EF EPI 2019.

The report gives the Basque Country a 58.06 mark for English proficiency. The Community of Madrid is ranked second best with 57.35, followed by Navarra on 57.09.

Extremadura is bottom of the English class with 53.92. The Balearic Islands do only marginally better (52.90), and Murcia stands third from bottom (53.92).

By city, Barcelona is top nationally for English skills with 57.97 points. Madrid is second best, Bilbao third, Zaragoza fourth, and Costa del Sol capital Malaga has the country’s fifth best standard of English with 55.49 points.  

The Netherlands tops the EF index this year with 70.27. Sweden is listed second and Norway third.

This is the ninth edition of the annual rankings, which is based on data from 2.3 million non-native English speakers in 100 countries and regions.