Stefan Mileschin

While the US is still the centre of the software universe, the nation is falling behind in training and using developers.

According to a new report by Evans Data, India will exceed the US in the number of software developers by 2017. Currently there are 18.2 million software developers worldwide, a number that is due to rise to 26.4 million by 2019.

This 45 percent increase might be bad news for those who want the west to lead the software world. Currently there are 3.6 million in the US and India has about 2.75 million. But by 2018, India will have 5.2 million developers, a nearly 90 percent increase, versus 4.5 million in the US.

The report said that India's software development growth rate is attributed, in part, to its population size, 1.2 billion, and relative youth, with about half the population under 25 years of age, and economic growth.

In India, IT and software work is seen as clear path to the middle class for many of the nation's youth. The country has seen real GDP growth has been about eight percent over the last decade. That growth rate may fall and that could lead to adjustment in the projections, the report warned.

This is the second time that Evans Data has predicted India will surpass the US in software developers. It previously though that this would happen by 2015, but that was before the seriousness of the recession hit the IT industry.

It appears that the recession delayed India’s rise to dominance.

In 2018, China will have about 1.9 million programmers, and Russia about 1.3 million, Evans Data said.

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