Cumulative Share of Global Open-Source Repositories
Top 10 countries and EU aggregate.
Examining development activity provides additional insight and highlights Europe’s underlying strengths. Measured as the
total number of commits accumulated across all repositories, the United States accounts for the largest global share (≈32%),
followed by the European Union (≈22%), while China represents a smaller, though increasing, share (≈8%).
A similar comparison using contributor data puts EU under a better light. Across all years, the EU accounts for a share of
GitHub contributor accounts comparable to that of the United States (≈23%) and substantially higher than that of China (≈12%).
That indicates that Europe supplies a large share of the global talent base and does not lack skills or engagement in open-source
software.
What is missing are mechanisms that turn this talent into durable products, companies, and infrastructure that remain
rooted in Europe.