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Estonia placed seventh or among countries with very high English proficiency. Sweden placed first with 70.94 points while the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Finland followed. Estonia scored 63.73 points and placed after Slovenia and before Luxembourg.

Compared to last year's results Estonia improved its score as well as ranking, but Estonia's best result dates back to 2013 when the country placed fourth.

This fifth edition of the EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) ranks 70 countries and territories based on test data from more than 910,000 adults who took our online English tests in 2014. This edition continues to track the evolution of English proficiency, looking back over the past eight years of EF EPI data.

In this fifth edition, regions are still the strongest predictor of English ability. This “neighborhood” effect is particularly strong in parts of Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Adult English proficiency does not change overnight, but in this fifth index, we are able to confirm trends of progress, stagnation, and decline that emerged in previous reports. We see that the average level of adult English proficiency in the world has risen slightly since last year, but this increase is far from uniform across countries, regions, and age groups. Many countries have seen no significant change, and a few have declined.

The gap between the highest and lowest proficiency countries has widened, with the top-ranked country, Sweden, a full 33 points above Libya, in last place.

Worldwide, English proficiency levels are highest among young adults aged 18-20. However, on a global level, the difference in English ability between age cohorts is extremely small for adults under 30. On a national level, the story is quite different, with some countries showing stark generational differences and others almost none.

The results are based on a test, which was taken by more than 910,000 people online.