With a total EF EPI score of 61.58, Belgium as a whole ranks 12th worldwide in the list. But if we zoom in on the country’s autonomous regions, it becomes evident that Flanders – Belgium’s northern region – obtains a higher score of 65.45. As a result, the Dutch-speaking region comes in at an impressive 7th place worldwide for English language proficiency.

Education First highlighted some key findings that explain high English proficiency results like those of Flanders. These include the facts that:

• English is taught as a required foreign language for all students starting from a young age;
• English classes at all levels use a communicative approach rather than emphasizing grammatical accuracy, while numerous university courses and programs use English as one of the languages of instruction;
• local citizens travel widely and benefit from everyday exposure to English in the workplace and on television, where programs are subtitled rather than dubbed.