” Between no more and drink a chair”: the results of the latest EF English ranking are in and we went from position 47 to 45, although in 2020 we achieved 37. In this version of the indicator, in the region, Argentina leads us , Costa Rica, Cuba, Paraguay and Bolivia. Internally, Concepción surpassed Santiago in competition and both cities have a “high” command of the language above the rest of the country.
Early Tuesday morning, EF Education First released its English Proficiency Index (EPI) 2022 with not so good news for Chile: we only recovered two places in the world ranking of English proficiency.
According to the index, which BioBioChile accessed, our country was in 45th place among 111 countries, with 524 points, in the group of “moderate proficiency” (previously called medium level).
Although slightly better than the result of 2021 (47/112 – 516 points ), we are still below the 37th position we obtained in 2020, among 100 countries. From one year to the next we fell ten places.
Regarding the list, this has been the year with the best position for Chile but looking at the scores this 2022 is, with 524 points, a unit over 2020.
By gender, with 540 points, men far outnumbered women, who averaged 508 units. Of course, both exceeded the world average, 511 and 495, respectively.
Now, by generation, the difference is even more marked.
According to the EPI 2022 in Chile, people over 40 and young people between 18 and 20 are the least proficient in the language with 499 and 475 points, respectively, which is equivalent to low proficiency.
While the first were below the world average (504), the second scored above it (451).
Meanwhile, Chileans between 21 and 25 averaged 520 points and those between 31 and 40 scored 547 units, which corresponds to a moderate level of proficiency in the language.
This year the best result was recorded among Chileans between the ages of 26 and 30 with 580 points, above the world average of 530. The figure left this group at a high level of competence.
English by region and Concepción, which beats Santiago
By region, two areas were in the dominance category high: Bío Bío (560) and the Metropolitan (550).
Moderate includes Ñuble (542), La Araucanía (538), O’Higgins (537), Valparaíso (535), Los Lagos (521), Los Ríos (519) and Magallanes (507).
On the other hand, Tarapacá (495), Arica and Parinacota (494), Maule (493), Antofagasta (483) and Coquimbo (482) have a low domain.
No data for Aysén, Atacama and its 443 points are the only area in Chile with very low English proficiency, compared to countries like Mexico, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Myanmar.
Last year, the regions with the best performance were RM (549), Valparaíso (538), Bío Bío (530), La Araucanía (514), Ñuble (512) and O’Higgins (501), all at a moderate level. .
Regarding cities, the EPI 2022 brings data from only nine and two of them entered the high domain group: Concepción (558) and Santiago (550).
In 2021 Santiago scored 552 points and was alone in high domain over the moderate Viña del Mar (536), Concepción (530), Temuco (519), Valparaíso (503) and Talca (502).
In the 2016 EPI, Concepción had already been the city with the best English speakers in Chile, but with 52.09 points, that is, a medium/moderate level.
Who speaks English better than Chileans? ?
The national data for this 2022 adds to the upward trend that Chile has set since 2011, in the first measurement of the EPI.
This year, of 41 countries, Chile was 36 and at a “very low” level. The same was repeated in 2012 (39/54 – 48.41) and 2013 (44/60 – 48.20).
In 2014 we rose to a low level with 48.75 points and ranked 41 out of 63 countries. After five years in this category, the 2019 EPI left us in the medium level with 52.89 points and 42 among 100 countries.
“Latin America continued to improve its level of English this year and the Most of its countries managed to raise their scores,” EF estimated.
“Its remarkable progress in the last decade has turned it from a region with a very low level to a region with a moderate level. Even Mexico, after five years of decline, seems to be raising its head”, they detailed in the report.
All in all, five Latin American countries surpassed us in the EPI 2022: Argentina (position 30 – 562 points), Costa Rica (37 – 536), Cuba (38 – 535) , Paraguay (43 – 526) and Bolivia (44 – 525). Of those, only the trans-Andeans are speakers with high proficiency.
In 2021 six countries in the region surpassed us: Argentina (30 – 556), Bolivia (41 – 524), Cuba (43 – 521), Costa Rica (44 – 520) , Dominican Republic (44 – 520) and Paraguay (44 – 520)
The most competent in the world
At the top of the results, 13 countries had figures that they were sent straight into the “very high proficiency” category.
First place went to the Netherlands with 661 points, second was Singapore (642) and third was Austria (628).
The top ten was completed by Norway (627), Denmark (625), Belgium (620), Sweden (618), Finland (615), Portugal (614) and Germany (613).
In 11th place was Croatia (612), followed by South Africa (609) and Poland (600).
Look below at all of Chile’s results in each EPI to date.
2011 36 of 41 countries, 44.63 points – Very Low Level
2012 39/54 48.41 – Very Low Level
2013 44/60 48.20 – Very Low Level
2014 41/63 48.75 – Low Level
2015 36/70 51.88 – Low Level
201642/72 50.10 – Low Level
2017 45/80 51.50 – Low Level
2018 46/88 52.01 – Low Level
2019 42/100 52.89 points – Intermediate Level
2020 37/100 523 points – Intermediate Level
2021 47/112 516 points – Moderate Mastery
2022 45/111 524 points – Moderate Proficiency
Read the EPI 2022 for all the details on global English proficiency
– Review here our notes on the 2021, 2020, 2019 and 2016 PPE.
– See the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 PPE.