Of all Slovaks, Košice residents have the best command of English

Residents of eastern Slovakia, especially in the city of Košice, possess the best knowledge of English among Slovaks. The Banská Bystrica and Trenčín Regions fare the worst in this regard, according to the EF English Proficiency Index 2023 survey conducted annually by the EF Education First organisation.

Slovakia ranks 18th in the index.

The survey involved 2.2 million people from 113 countries for whom English is not a native language. The Dutch lead the ranking, followed by Singapore in second place and Austria in third.

Slovaks with worse results than two years ago

Slovakia is among the countries with a high level of English proficiency, as indicated by the survey.

"The high level of English proficiency achieved by Slovaks in the survey suggests that they can read newspapers, understand television programmes, and have no problem preparing a work presentation in English," said Monika Barboráková, country manager of EF Education First.

Young people aged 21 to 25 speak English the best in Slovakia and are the only age group that has improved compared to the previous year.

Despite the growth in English proficiency over the last 12 years, Slovaks have worsened compared to the results from the previous two years. Poles and Hungarians fare better, while Czechs have seen a decline again.

Widened gender gap

This year's survey has further deepened the gender gap.

English proficiency is improving among men but declining among women.

"This situation may be caused by biases in educational systems or the unequal treatment that women experience in many countries. However, the gender gap is not uniform worldwide - in 63 countries, men and women are at the same level or approaching the same level of English proficiency," explained Barboráková.

The analysis of global regions reveals that English proficiency in East Asia has been decreasing for four consecutive years, with a faster decline this year in Japan and China. In the Middle East, English proficiency remains stagnant, while South America continues to improve, except for declining proficiency in Mexico and a slower pace in Brazil. In Africa, English proficiency is mostly stable, but Tunisia and Algeria are making significant improvements.