32 bit is handy in development because you can run more than one.
On most processors you can only run one 64 bit VM, but as many 32 bit VMs as you can handle.
On most processors you can only run one 64 bit VM, but as many 32 bit VMs as you can handle.
I have an i7-6700HQ for example, and I can either have Hyper-V turned on (I'm on Windows) in which case I can only run 32-bit VM's with VirtualBox, or I can turn off Hyper-V in which case I can run one 64-bit VM on VirtualBox, and then only 32-bit VM's past that.
If I'm doing Android development, I can't run a 64-bit VM at the same time as the Android emulator is 64-bit.
Sometimes I want to run my web server, an Android VM, and maybe a Redis server on Ubuntu in a VM. I can't emulate Android and run a 64-bit VM, so the 32-bit Ubuntu distro is invaluable here.