It is of no doubt that English is the most spoken language in the world. It is used by traders and travelers across the globe to communicate with speakers of other languages. The history of the language can be traced as far back as to the 5th century AD, wherein the Anglo Saxon tribes brought the dialect with them to Britain. And with a long history of conquest, the speakers of English spread the language across the world.
Currently a total of 1.5 billion people around the word speak English, and a vast majority of them are non-native English speakers. The ability to speak English provides various opportunities in the world. For starters, it allows you to communicate with a large part of the world. It is also viewed as a competitive advantage and a necessity to move forward in any field.
Hence, it was only likely that a test would be conducted to showcase which are the best non-native English speaking countries in the world. The report delves deep into different statistics and offers various key insights about the non-native English speaking countries.
Most Read: 3 Strategies Early-Stage Biotech Companies Can Adopt to Overcome Financial Hurdles
Index Details
The index was compiled by an international education company, named Education First. They set up an online test that was participated in by over 100 countries across the world. And as per the data, it can be concluded that the highest number of non-native English speakers belong to the country of Netherlands. Some of the other high ranking countries on this list include the likes of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.
It was rather obvious that the top ranking countries would be of European origin, since the language owes its roots to the West Germanic school of languages.
According to the test, the countries belonging to the Middle East region ranked the lowest. Countries such as Iraq, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, were reported to be positioned at the bottom of the list. This was once again an expected result as English does not operate as a primary language herein.
Most Read: How Outsourced Bookkeeping and Payroll Services Can Save You Time and Money
What does it mean?
According to the results of this index, countries that ranker higher had more progressive social and political systems, and were also more open towards scientific innovations. It further showed that the highest number of non-native English speakers belong to the age group of upper twenties. Thus, it can be concluded that there is a growth of the language particularly amongst the newer generation.
In comparison, previously undergone studies have shown results with much lesser gender gap. While the scores for Asia has fallen, Latin America has shown quite a bit of progress in the charts. Elsewhere, some African countries scored higher than others and showcased the positive inclination towards the language in recent years.
Most Read: Healthy Eating Habits for Busy Entrepreneurs
Points to Consider
One should not call this list absolutely conclusive as the test only presented online people. People without any access to the internet were unable to participate in the same. At the same time the test was taken by a large number of participating volunteers from various non-native English speaking countries, so the result does hold certain gravity.
Another factor to consider is that this test primarily caters to first world countries. And that can be one of the reason why the test results are European heavy. The test was hardly taken by countries from regions such as Africa. Some countries did not even meet the basic condition of having 400 voters.
But out the 2.3 million people who did take this test, it is absolutely certain that it was the people of Netherlands who stood out to be the most proficient non-native English speakers.
The number of English speaking countries in the world is sharply rising and maybe in the future this mantle will be taken up by a country that does not belong to the first world.
Most Read: How to Become a Real Estate Agent Without a Degree
