In Asia, Malaysia received the top ranking this year at 11th place in an annual adult English proficiency index comprising 60 countries where English is not the mother tongue, pipping Singapore which was ranked 12th, media reports said today.

Thailand was ranked 55th, making it the worst regional performer, the reports said.

According to the results of the EF English Proficiency Index, conducted annually by the Zurich-based company EF Education First, Thailand only outranked Panama, Kazakhstan, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq in adult English skills, The Nation reported.

In the 2012 index, Thailand was ranked 53rd out of the 54 countries surveyed that year, surpassing only Libya. Sweden has consistently ranked first in the index.

India was ranked 21st, Hong Kong 22nd, South Korea 24th, Indonesia 25th, Japan 26th and Sri Lanka 30th.

Thailand is the only country in South-East Asia that was never colonised, a historical anomaly which educators often blame for the country’s relatively poor English skills.

- dpa