Macao’s English level remains less than ideal, with the city achieving a 2025 EF English Proficiency Index of 478, a figure lower than the global average score of 488 points.
According to EF Education First, the SAR’s English level falls within the “low proficiency” band between 450 and 499, which means an individual can visit an English-speaking country for tourism purposes, take part in small talk and comprehend simple emails.
Nationally, Macao’s result is higher than mainland China’s overall score of 464. However, it is lower than other first-tier mainland cities such as Beijing (514), Shanghai (509), as well as Guangzhou and Shenzhen (498).
Surprisingly, second-tier cities such as Hefei (482) and Harbin (480) managed to outperform Macao, which is attempting to position itself as a world centre of tourism and leisure.
Globally, Macao was beaten by the likes of Iran (492 points), Pakistan (493 points), Tunisia (498 points) and Ethiopia (499 points). Neighbouring SAR Hong Kong also fared much better, earning a ranking in 39th place worldwide, with a moderate proficiency score of 538
Overall, the Netherlands (624), Croatia (617) and Austria (616) topped the charts. The remaining countries that broke into the top ten were European countries that included Germany (615), Norway (613), Portugal (612), Denmark (611), Sweden (609), Belgium (608) and Slovakia (606).
[See more: The Internet asked, ‘Is it Macau or Macao?’ and we answered]
On the African continent, South Africa and Zimbabwe came out on top, with both countries earning a score of 602 that put them in 13th place.
Meanwhile, Malaysia and the Philippines clocked the highest scores in Asia. The former scored 581, ranking 24th place, while the latter recorded a score of 569, with a positioning in 28th place.
The lowest scoring countries on the list were Cambodia (390) and Ivory Coast (393), which were listed in 123rd and 122nd place.
Countries such as England, the US, New Zealand and Singapore, were not included on the list as they were considered to be countries where English is spoken as a mother tongue.
Results from the 2025 EF Education First’s English Proficiency Index were gathered by analysing the test data of 2.2 million people who took the EF Standard English Test in 2024.
