How good is Germany’s English in 2025?

The latest English Proficiency Ranking from Education First (EF) has found that Germans are climbing the ranks among the non-native English speakers with the best English language skills in 2025.

EF’s English Proficiency Ranking 2025

Every year, EF creates what it calls “the world’s most comprehensive ranking of adult English skills across 123 countries and regions”. This year’s ranking is based on 2,2 million non-native English speakers’ language test results. Previously, EF’s proficiency tests included reading and listening comprehension; this year, they also included speaking assessments for the first time.

The ranking found some key patterns. Among them, reading is the strongest English skill in nearly 80 percent of countries. Second, English proficiency among the youngest adults remains lower than before the pandemic. Third, speaking remains the weakest language skill among non-native speakers, but also “the skill which gives foreign visitors their impression of a country’s English level”.

EF added that AI would continue to transform every form of language learning, but that “teachers and students need support to become responsible, informed users of AI to complement the learning process” and that certain methods of learning English, namely immersion and exchange experiences in an English-speaking country, are unlikely to ever be replaced by these technologies.

The Dutch and Croatians speak the best non-Native English

Overall, the Netherlands, Croatia and Austria were named the top three non-native English-speaking countries where residents had the best English proficiency in 2025.

While Germany missed out on  the top three, the federal republic climbed from 10th place in 2024 to fourth place in 2025, one of the biggest gains in Europe. Broken down by skill, Germans performed best in reading, followed by listening, writing and speaking. 

Between 2015 and 2025, English language skills among 18 to 30-year-olds in Germany have stayed consistently good, while English skills among 31 to 40-year-olds have improved more significantly. Those aged over 41 have been improving, but improvement has plateaued since around 2021.

The ranking also broke down English proficiency in Germany by federal state. Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, all home to many of the largest German cities, performed the best. 

Of the cities, Karlsruhe, Aachen, Bonn, Cologne and Münster were named the most proficient in English, while Hamburg, Essen, Nuremberg, Bremen and Mannheim performed the worst.

What does the result mean for English speakers in Germany?

While the EF ranking may be music to the ears of English speakers living in or considering moving to Germany, the result isn’t permission to throw der-die-das-die towel in and stop learning German.

Alongside the importance of learning German to better understand and become a part of the place you have chosen as your home, several studies point to the fact that acquiring good German skills is wise economically.

A recent report by the online job board Indeed revealed that of the millions of Germany-based job listings posted between September 2023 and August 2024, just 2,7 percent of advertisements said that German language certifications were not required for the job.

By comparison, in the Netherlands - which took the top spot in EF’s 2025 English Proficiency ranking -  7,8 percent of listed jobs said Dutch was not required for a successful application. The local language was not required for just 5,8 percent of jobs listed in Spain, 4,1 percent in France and 3,9 percent in Italy.

What’s more, migrants to Germany who learn German earn more. A 2019 study by the Institute for Economic Research (IW) in Cologne found that the better their German skills, the more migrant workers in Germany are paid. “Language acquisition is the key to successful integration into the German workplace,” IW report author Wido Geis-Thöne explained.

Countries with the best non-native English skills in 2025

Overall, these are the countries with the best non-native English proficiency in 2025, according to EF:

1. The Netherlands
2. Croatia
3. Austria
4. Germany
5. Norway
6. Portugal
7. Denmark
8. Sweden
9. Belgium
10. Slovakia

To read the full EF English Proficiency Index 2025, head to the EF website.