Number of students learning the English language 2023, by country

In 2023, the United Kingdom had the most students learning English as a foreign language. There were approximately 419,000 students who were learning English as a second language that year, followed by Australia with almost 169,000 foreign students. The third place ranking was completed by the U.S., with around 144,000 students learning English as a foreign language. 

The global English learning market

Learning English has become increasingly important for young people, especially in terms of international communication, increasing employability at multinational firms or securing work abroad, and specializing in fields as a global expert. The United Kingdom had both the highest number of students learning English as a foreign language and the shared highest distribution of English language learning revenue. In the past few years, the English language learning market has experienced a decrease in revenue, perhaps partially due to more free online platforms becoming accessible, as well as more companies and schools implementing English learning systems. 2022, however, has shown signs of improvement in terms of revenue. In 2020, revenues generated by the English learning market were dramatically lower due to travel restrictions implemented to limit the spread of COVID-19, as this trend continued into 2021.

The global language services industry

Over the course of the past two decades, the need for bilingual and multilingual skills has increased substantially. In an increasingly globalized world that is becoming more and more connected over time, people have been motivated to learn additional languages to suit both personal and professional demands. The market size of the global language services industry has grown to reflect this, with expected revenues of around 55 billion U.S. dollars projected for 2022.