In the fourth annual edition of the English First English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) for 2014, Viet Nam moved up to 28^th place from 33^rd.

The EF EPI report released on November 12 examined the English language skills of 750,000 adults from 60 countries and revealed wide gaps in English skills across the world.

Notably, Viet Nam showed some of the fastest gains in English proficiency over the six year period (2007 to 2012 inclusive), alongside Thailand and Indonesia from Southeast Asia.

Illustrative image. – File photo

The index also revealed that the English language is an important indicator of the economic competitiveness of a country. Adults in Denmark are the world’s best non-native English speakers, followed by the Netherlands and Sweden.

The top ten countries in English proficiency were all European. Europe's English proficiency remained far higher than that of other regions, and it showed continued improvement.

Almost all countries in Latin America, the Middle East, and North Africa had low or very low English proficiency. Argentina, the Dominican Republic and the UAE stood out for their moderate English proficiency.