Developer Population Growth Shifts Toward China, India and Emerging Countries

Evans Data Press Release, SANTA CRUZ CA June 13th

As the population of software developers worldwide continues to grow, the hot spots top growth rate are changing. While the United States currently has the largest population of developers, India will overtake the US by 2023 according to Evans Data’s recently released Global Developer Population and Demographics Study. The top nation for growth however is China, where the growth rate of the developer population is forecast to range between 6% and 8% each year leading up to 2023.

The Global Developer Population and Demographic Study, now in its 25th edition, is the definitive developer population estimate, updated every six months. The result of extensive secondary research, the study finds 23 million developers worldwide in 2018 with projections to reach 27.7 million within five years. Global survey data laid atop the population estimates show technology adoption figures worldwide as well as by region. and offer insights into estimates on numbers of developers such as how many developers in each region are developing in the Cloud, how many use Block chain, etc.

“The US can be viewed as the cradle of software development and has thus has always had the largest developer population,” said Janel Garvin, CEO of Evans Data Corp, “However, emerging countries are definitely catching up. This is true overall and also in the adoption of various leading edge technologies, where we see a very strong uptake in China, India and also Brazil.”

Population trends and estimates cover many different types of development in the most recent study. Additional points discovered in this edition include: 7.2 million developers currently developing in the Cloud with the number of developers in the APAC region doing this almost double the number in North America.

The new Global Development Population and Demographics Study provides developer population estimates by region and for major countries within regions as well as worldwide estimates and growth projections. Demographic estimates include age, gender, years experience, education and more. Technology adoption estimates include Host and Target Platform Adoption and Migration, Cloud, BlockChain, Tool use, Tech adoption, High Performance Computing, and other topics.

See the complete Table of Contents and Methodology here: Table of Contents

So what does that mean for developer relations? According to the Evans Data Developer Relations Programs Survey, the number of developers who are in a formal developer relations program reached 83% – that’s over 19 million developers involved with developer programs! That showcases now more than ever, its vital to ensure you understand the needs of the developers you are targeting, perfect your outreach methods, and have the program elements in place required to attract and retain them.

For more insight on developer relations programs, check out this annual study with over 156 pages of insight – Developer Relations Program 2018