In 2024, Python overtook JavaScript as the most popular language on GitHub. This shift is accompanied by a remarkable 92 per cent increase in the usage of Jupyter Notebooks, highlighting "the surge in data science and machine learning on GitHub.

The report also indicates a growing interest in AI agents and smaller models requiring less computational power, reflecting an industry-wide focus on new AI applications.

While the United States leads in contributions to generative AI projects on GitHub, there is significant activity outside the United States. In 2024, contributions to generative AI projects surged by 59 per cent, with a 98 per cent increase in the number of projects overall. Many of these contributions came from India, Germany, Japan, and Singapore.

Indiais experiencing notable growth and is expected to have the world's largest developer population on GitHub by 2028. Africa and Latin America are also seeing substantial increases in developer activity.

"We have seen greater growth outside the United States every year since 2013 — and that trend has sped up over the past few years," the report states.

Although GitHub projected India to have the most developers by 2027 last year, the new forecast anticipates this milestone will be reached a year later. The top ten countries with the most developers on GitHub in 2024 are:

1.United States

2,India

3.China

4. Brazil

5. United Kingdom

6. Russia

7. Germany

8. Indonesia

9. Japan

10. Canada

The UK's population ranks 21st among countries worldwide, Germany ranks 19th, and Canada ranks 36th.

GitHub highlights the rise of non-English, high-population regions, noting that "it is happening at the same time as the proliferation of generative AI tools, which are increasingly enabling developers to engage with code in their natural language."

Additionally, GitHub's For Good First Issue, a curated list of Digital Public Goods needing contributors, connects these projects with individuals interested in addressing societal challenges and promoting sustainable development. Significantly, 34 per cent of contributors to the top ten For Good Issue projects made their first contribution after signing up for GitHub Copilot.

There are now 518 million projects on GitHub, a 25 per cent increase year over year.