09:30, 18 ноября 2020, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Anvar ABDULLAEV
Kyrgyzstan took the 96th place out of 100 in the EF English Proficiency Index (EPI) 2020. The top five are the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway.
Compared to last year, Kyrgyzstan has improved its position, rising three points up in the ranking — the republic took second to last place a year earlier. The level of English proficiency among the residents of the country is still assessed as very low, that is, an average Kyrgyzstani can say a few words about himself (name, age, country) and give simple instructions to a foreign tourist. The English language proficiency situation among the countries of the region is worse only in Tajikistan, which took the last place in the ranking. For comparison, Kazakhstan takes the 92nd place, Uzbekistan — the 88th, and, for example, Afghanistan takes the 79th place. Russia takes the 41stplace, having improved the result by seven points.
Europeans traditionally have high levels of English proficiency; 27 out of 33 countries have improved their positions since last year. China improved its position in the ranking, moving from 40th to 38th place. India, on the contrary, lost 16 positions and took the 50th place, finding itself among the countries with a low level of English proficiency.
The ranking is based on data collected from 2.2 million people in 100 countries and regions for which English is not a native language.
The highest level of English proficiency around the world was shown by respondents aged from 26 to 30. At the same time, adults over 40 showed a higher level of knowledge than respondents aged from 18 to 20.