The Philippines climbed two places to rank 20th out of 113 countries in the 2023 edition of the English Proficiency Index (EPI) by international education company Education First (EF). The index is the world’s largest ranking of countries/regions by adult English skills, published annually, which also serves as an international benchmark for adult English proficiency. The country’s EPI score sits at 578 out of the 800-point scale and categorized as “high proficiency,” considered sufficient for tasks like making work presentations, understanding TV shows, and reading newspapers. It is even better than the Asian region’s average score of 485 and the global average score of 502. Among the Asian countries included in the report, the Philippines placed second after Singapore (2nd overall). Meanwhile, Manila leads the Asian cities after placing 24th out of 108 cities with a score of 587 having “high proficiency” in the English language.