Can you actually talk to them?

EF English Proficiency against the pooled male-to-female ratio of the cities we carry in each market.

Scatter plot of EF English Proficiency Index score against pooled male-to-female ratio for 103 markets

Dot area is the number of cities carried in that market. Colour is the pooled ratio on the shared 94/100/112 scale.

What the chart says

There is no trade-off curve here, just a scatter. High-English markets appear at both ends of the ratio range, and so do low-English ones.
The pooled ratio is not the national ratio. It is every city this site carries in that market, added together — a different population from the country.

All 103

Every market carrying both an EF score and at least one city.

#	Market	EF EPI band	EF EPI score	Cities carried	Men per 100 women, pooled
1	NLD	Very High	624	6	100.3
2	HRV	Very High	617	9	97.6
3	AUT	Very High	616	6	104.4
4	DEU	Very High	615	10	100.9
5	NOR	Very High	613	10	101.3
6	PRT	Very High	612	9	99.0
7	DNK	Very High	611	4	100.5
8	SWE	Very High	609	10	101.2
9	BEL	Very High	608	6	101.0
10	SVK	Very High	606	9	103.3
11	ROU	Very High	605	8	94.8
12	FIN	Very High	603	10	100.8
13	ZAF	Very High	602	10	102.0
14	ZWE	Very High	602	9	85.8
15	POL	Very High	600	6	93.1
16	LVA	High	599	6	97.6
17	MKD	High	595	6	104.1
18	BGR	High	594	6	103.9
19	KEN	High	593	6	92.5
20	GRC	High	592	8	102.8
21	BIH	High	591	4	110.0
22	HUN	High	590	8	105.8
23	CZE	High	582	10	102.0
24	MYS	High	581	6	120.1
25	SRB	High	579	6	96.6
26	ARG	High	575	9	95.9
27	ZMB	High	573	10	91.7
28	NGA	High	569	8	123.5
29	PHL	High	569	12	102.9
30	CHE	High	564	6	102.7
31	EST	High	561	6	104.0
32	HND	High	553	10	86.2
33	LTU	Moderate	543	3	109.5
34	URY	Moderate	542	6	100.8
35	GEO	Moderate	541	6	98.4
36	ESP	Moderate	540	9	101.5
37	GHA	Moderate	540	8	95.2
38	FRA	Moderate	539	10	96.4
39	CYP	Moderate	537	3	104.2
40	BLR	Moderate	533	7	99.4
41	ALB	Moderate	532	9	96.0
42	MDA	Moderate	531	5	93.4
43	PRY	Moderate	531	6	98.4
44	ISR	Moderate	524	10	102.0
45	SLV	Moderate	523	6	92.1
46	KOR	Moderate	522	6	100.6
47	BOL	Moderate	521	10	95.3
48	RUS	Moderate	521	10	97.7
49	VEN	Moderate	520	9	96.7
50	PER	Moderate	519	3	93.4
51	UGA	Moderate	518	10	85.1
52	CHL	Moderate	517	10	103.7
53	CRI	Moderate	516	7	103.6
54	ARM	Moderate	515	11	93.9
55	CUB	Moderate	515	10	105.9
56	NPL	Moderate	514	8	88.9
57	ITA	Moderate	513	10	106.2
58	NIC	Moderate	512	10	92.7
59	GTM	Moderate	510	9	98.1
60	BGD	Moderate	506	7	113.0
61	DOM	Moderate	503	8	95.1
62	VNM	Moderate	500	7	99.5
63	ETH	Low	499	8	97.0
64	PAK	Low	493	7	102.1
65	IRN	Low	492	8	101.2
66	MAR	Low	492	8	96.3
67	PAN	Low	491	6	99.1
68	TUR	Low	488	7	101.6
69	ARE	Low	487	5	208.9
70	LKA	Low	486	10	95.7
71	IND	Low	484	10	109.8
72	BRA	Low	482	6	93.5
73	COL	Low	480	8	97.2
74	TZA	Low	479	10	103.2
75	LBN	Low	477	8	89.7
76	BTN	Low	473	9	119.1
77	IDN	Low	471	12	101.1
78	ECU	Low	466	10	93.8
79	CHN	Low	464	20	112.8
80	LAO	Low	461	5	99.4
81	EGY	Low	459	9	103.9
82	KWT	Low	455	9	178.0
83	AZE	Low	454	8	97.1
84	MNG	Very Low	447	8	94.7
85	JPN	Very Low	446	10	98.6
86	MMR	Very Low	444	5	94.6
87	KGZ	Very Low	443	10	89.5
88	SEN	Very Low	442	9	96.0
89	MEX	Very Low	440	6	105.3
90	UZB	Very Low	439	8	104.7
91	JOR	Very Low	426	8	120.8
92	KAZ	Very Low	417	11	98.4
93	RWA	Very Low	417	9	109.0
94	THA	Very Low	402	16	97.4
95	CIV	Very Low	393	9	101.1
96	KHM	Very Low	390	6	96.9
97	AUS	Native-majority	—	15	100.1
98	CAN	Native-majority	—	10	100.0
99	GBR	Native-majority	—	10	93.2
100	IRL	Native-majority	—	4	98.7
101	NZL	Native-majority	—	10	100.2
102	SGP	Native-majority	—	2	87.8
103	USA	Native-majority	—	27	102.2

EF EPI is a self-selected online test, so it measures the English of people who chose to take an English test, not of the population.

Where this is wrong

EF EPI is self-selected. Its own documentation says the sample is not representative — it skews young, urban and motivated, which is arguably the population you would meet, but it is not the country.
103 markets is a small scatter. Do not read a trend line into it; there is not one to read.
Pooling cities is not a national figure, and a market carrying one city is one city.
22 cities are held back, not missing. Every UK city, and most of Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea, ship census arrays that are not population counts — a few hundred people against multi-million cities, and Belfast computing to 158 men per 100 women off 173 people. They are excluded until the source is rebuilt.

Sources

EF English Proficiency Index 2025. Age by sex: national statistics offices per market — methodology.

The same numbers drive the research desk, where you can filter and sort every city here, and women-majority cities.

More charts

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Country-level EF scores sit next to each city's own ratio and cost, so you can see what the trade actually costs you.

The per-market deep-dives — 13 tabs of cost, visa, tax, safety and sub-national ratio for one country — are behind the Pro gate. Everything on this page is not.

Data updated 4 September 2026