Education First has published its English Proficiency Index for 2018 in which Turkey fell under the category of “very low” and was ranked 73rd among 88 countries surveyed, the Diken news website reported on Wednesday.
The index is an annual report by Education First based on surveys conducted on people from countries where English is not a native language with a view to providing an understanding of how and where English proficiency is developing around the world.
In order to put together the eighth edition of the index, Education First analyzed the results of 1.3 million people who took English tests in 2017.
With a ranking of 73rd among 88 countries, Turkey’s scores placed it in the lowest category, namely “very low,” along with countries such as Iraq, Myanmar, Syria, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, Iran, Algeria, Afghanistan and Libya.
In the same index last year Turkey had been ranked 62nd, although its ranking has been in constant decline since 2012, when it took 32nd place.
In terms of provinces, Ankara has the highest score, followed by İstanbul, İzmir and Eskişehir.
On a regional scale, Central Anatolia ranked first, followed by the Marmara and Aegean regions.
Turkey’s average score was 78 on TOEFL and 6.4 on IELTS.
In the category of “very high,” Sweden ranked first for the fourth time in a row, followed by the Netherlands, Singapore, Norway and Denmark.
Overall, the study concluded that women speak English better than men in all indices and that societies that speak English are more open, less hierarchical and fairer to women.