Hongkongers' English language skills rank only 25th out of 54 non-English-speaking countries, losing to Asian competitors such as Japan and South Korea, in a survey by a language education company.
Education First described the result of its survey as "alarming", warning that Hong Kong could lose its edge as an international city after dropping 13 spots from the previous survey.
The poll does not measure English speaking skills, focusing instead on listening, reading and knowledge of grammar.
That might explain why the result seemed contradictory to some Hongkongers' experience in Japan, South Korea and other countries - where they could barely communicate with local residents in English, acknowledged Joe Chiu Sung-kei, country manager of Education First.
Hong Kong scored 53.65 points out of 100. The company arrived at the score by analysing online and written tests it offered from 2009 to last year.
Sweden tops the list with 68.91 points, followed by Denmark with 67.96.