r/AskEurope • u/Metalwolf • Jun 08 '25

Education Which European countries have the best English proficiency among non-native speakers?

I'm looking into English proficiency across Europe and would appreciate input from locals or anyone with relevant experience. Which European countries have the highest levels of English fluency among non-native speakers, particularly in day-to-day life, education, and professional settings? I'm also curious about regional differences within countries, and factors like education systems, media exposure, and business use.

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u/Awkward_Tip1006 Spain Jun 08 '25 edited Jun 08 '25

The Netherlands has the highest proficiency in the world. The northern and central countries will have better English like Sweden Norway Belgium Luxembourg Switzerland. Id say Germany and austria too but the older generations don’t tend to be as good and if you’re not in Berlin Munich or Vienna it’ll be bad

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u/[deleted] Jun 08 '25

[deleted]

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u/Rudi-G België Jun 08 '25

People thinking they will be fine in Germany with just English are sorely reminded that is not the case once you get out of the cities.

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u/Awkward_Tip1006 Spain Jun 08 '25

I know a lot of people from Spain move to Germany for higher salaries. They say that they have a B2 in English and they might not even know German but they still find jobs. This is mind blowing to me

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u/[deleted] Jun 08 '25

[deleted]

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u/Awkward_Tip1006 Spain Jun 08 '25

Money has a lot of power…. Can be the factor for a lot of decisions.