Norway: sharp drop in English language skills Norway has slipped down the world rankings as a global leader in English language proficiency, said a report released this week. The Education First (EF) English Language Proficiency Index reported inclusion in the top five showing for the three Scandinavian nations included in the study. Denmark was the number one nation for English language proficiency (EPI = 69.3), Holland was second (EPI = 68.98) and Sweden, third (EPi = 67.80). However Norway, although ranked 5th, saw a significant drop of 5 percent in its EPI since 2011 (EPi = 69). In 2014, the Nordic nation has an EPI of only 64.32. The current trend has shown a significant decrease across both Norwegian men (down 5 percent) and women (down 4 percent) in English language proficiency. Although Norway was still awarded a "very high proficiency" by the EF Index, the trend does show a decrease across the country. This Index is in its fourth edition and shows the performance in 2014 of 63 non-Commonwealth countries worldwide. The major trend highlights that Europe's English proficiency remains far higher than other regions," and it continues to improve. The study also concluded there exist strong correlations between English proficiency and income, quality of life, ease of doing business, Internet usage, and years of schooling. These correlations are remarkably stable over time, stated EF in its findings. EF is the world's largest educational company, specializing in language learning, academic programs and cultural exchange. The company was founded in 1965 and today operates 500 schools and offices across 52 countries. How The Local's nations fared: 1st Denmark - The world's best non-native speakers 3rd Sweden 5th Norway 7th Austria - Improving at English language skills 10th Germany 18th Switzerland 20th Spain - Spaniards speaking better English than ever 27th Italy 29th France - Why the French are the worst at English