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Population of the federal public service by region of work and executive level

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About the data

When reading the table below, the following information applies:

  • Source of information: Pay System as of March 31 of each year.
  • The federal public service consists of 2 population segments: the core public administration and separate agencies.
  • Departments and agencies in the core public administration are named in schedules I and IV of the Financial Administration Act. The Treasury Board is the employer of this segment of the federal public service.
  • Separate agencies are named in Schedule V of the Act. Separate agencies conduct their own negotiations or set their own classification levels for their employees.
  • Included in this information are:
    • active employees of all employment tenures (indeterminate, term, casual and student)
    • Governor in Council appointees
    • deputy ministers
    • federal judges
  • Excluded from this information are:
    • inactive employees (i.e., employees on leave without pay)
    • ministers’ exempt staff
    • employees locally engaged outside of Canada
    • RCMP Regular Force members
    • RCMP Civilian members
    • Canadian Armed Forces members
  • Population counts for the following separate agencies are not included because their employee information is not available in the Pay System:
    • Canadian Security Intelligence Service
    • National Capital Commission
    • Canada Investment and Savings
    • Canadian Forces Non-Public Funds
    • Security Intelligence Review Committee (before 2010)
  • Data on executives in the federal public service include employees from the Executive group as well as executive equivalents within the separate agencies.
  • Executive equivalents in separate agencies were adjusted in 2016 and as a result, historical years have been adjusted according to this grouping and may not reflect previous figures provided in historical Demographic snapshot of Canada’s public service reports and Clerk of the Privy Council’s Annual Reports to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada.
Population of the federal public service by region of work and executive level
Region of work Year
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Core public administration
Atlantic 20,991 20,913 20,720 21,737 23,308 24,319 26,253 26,945 28,724 30,466 30,038
Executives
 231 241 246 238 248 265 292 326 360 339 355
EX-01
 135 139 140 140 137 152 173 196 219 210 217
EX-02
 55 57 63 57 66 68 65 78 88 83 85
EX-03
 30 35 35 32 35 35 42 40 42 35 42
EX-04
 11 10 7 8 9 9 12 12 10 10 10
EX-05
 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1
Non-executives
 20,760 20,672 20,474 21,499 23,060 24,054 25,961 26,619 28,364 30,127 29,683
British Columbia 17,038 17,019 16,727 16,985 17,791 18,476 19,871 19,970 21,210 22,175 22,103
Executives
 143 149 150 143 163 178 197 220 246 245 261
EX-01
 91 94 96 88 101 113 134 149 157 151 163
EX-02
 31 31 34 33 36 43 41 43 56 58 60
EX-03
 17 19 16 16 21 17 18 20 26 29 28
EX-04
 4 5 4 5 5 5 4 8 6 7 10
EX-05
 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Non-executives
 16,895 16,870 16,577 16,842 17,628 18,298 19,674 19,750 20,964 21,930 21,842
National Capital Region (NCR) 86,653 86,487 88,738 93,990 101,734 106,857 113,701 119,331 127,440 129,861 129,495
Executives
 3,734 3,781 3,741 3,914 4,227 4,445 4,896 5,199 5,470 5,582 5,737
EX-01
 1,936 1,940 1,917 2,005 2,152 2,263 2,455 2,609 2,773 2,804 2,814
EX-02
 879 889 902 923 999 1,060 1,221 1,319 1,366 1,397 1,453
EX-03
 685 706 683 727 799 830 900 961 1,013 1,031 1,100
EX-04
 162 161 158 179 187 195 210 209 213 238 238
EX-05
 72 85 81 80 90 97 110 101 105 112 132
Non-executives
 82,919 82,706 84,997 90,076 97,507 102,412 108,805 114,132 121,970 124,279 123,758
Northern Region 951 930 922 961 983 1,020 1,088 1,096 1,156 1,195 1,191
Executives
 18 20 19 23 22 25 22 26 28 21 31
EX-01
 15 15 15 19 15 18 15 19 20 14 20
EX-02
 3 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 5 5 8
EX-03
 0 0 0 0 2 3 3 3 3 2 3
Non-executives
 933 910 903 938 961 995 1,066 1,070 1,128 1,174 1,160
Ontario (minus the NCR) 25,183 25,330 24,764 25,148 25,607 27,016 28,689 29,502 32,037 34,484 34,467
Executives
 180 171 160 170 174 181 206 220 245 252 277
EX-01
 102 95 94 104 101 110 126 137 144 139 156
EX-02
 52 56 50 52 56 55 62 59 75 87 89
EX-03
 21 16 13 12 14 13 15 20 22 21 26
EX-04
 4 3 3 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 6
EX-05
 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Non-executives
 25,003 25,159 24,604 24,978 25,433 26,835 28,483 29,282 31,792 34,232 34,190
Outside of Canada 1,476 1,447 1,341 1,367 1,413 1,492 1,323 1,478 1,540 1,571 1,584
Executives
 271 279 262 258 252 256 227 247 263 262 262
EX-01
 128 134 130 130 127 124 107 127 130 135 137
EX-02
 73 79 74 67 65 69 61 60 67 64 62
EX-03
 53 51 47 52 52 53 49 53 56 55 56
EX-04
 15 13 9 7 6 8 8 7 9 7 7
EX-05
 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 1 1 0
Non-executives
 1,205 1,168 1,079 1,109 1,161 1,236 1,096 1,231 1,277 1,309 1,322
Prairies 21,506 21,816 21,604 21,789 22,429 23,379 24,708 25,320 26,859 28,535 28,144
Executives
 180 183 168 175 187 188 202 219 238 238 248
EX-01
 106 106 92 95 101 105 119 127 143 135 136
EX-02
 50 55 55 58 60 59 58 62 63 69 72
EX-03
 19 17 17 18 22 20 21 25 26 27 32
EX-04
 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 5 6 7 8
Non-executives
 21,326 21,633 21,436 21,614 22,242 23,191 24,506 25,101 26,621 28,297 27,896
Quebec (minus the NCR) 21,767 21,906 20,987 21,728 22,776 23,525 25,209 26,202 28,309 29,788 29,887
Executives
 201 195 199 194 207 214 225 252 295 283 308
EX-01
 107 101 105 105 106 114 118 142 163 156 172
EX-02
 66 67 66 63 70 72 69 74 86 75 90
EX-03
 23 22 22 19 23 22 31 29 40 47 42
EX-04
 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 7 5 4 3
EX-05
 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 1 1 1
Non-executives
 21,566 21,711 20,788 21,534 22,569 23,311 24,984 25,950 28,014 29,505 29,579
Unknown 0 1,506 3,888 4,607 4,274 5,092 4,897 4,465 3,523 4,077 2,487
Executives
 0 16 149 181 146 170 154 161 175 194 76
EX-01
 0 8 55 64 60 75 68 67 74 79 31
EX-02
 0 5 41 50 35 37 37 35 35 46 21
EX-03
 0 2 30 33 28 35 33 30 41 43 19
EX-04
 0 0 17 21 15 11 9 19 17 17 5
EX-05
 0 1 6 13 8 12 7 10 8 9 0
Non-executives
 0 1,490 3,739 4,426 4,128 4,922 4,743 4,304 3,348 3,883 2,411
Total 195,565 197,354 199,691 208,312 220,315 231,176 245,739 254,309 270,798 282,152 279,396
Separate agencies
Atlantic 5,665 5,548 5,661 6,088 6,228 6,355 7,174 8,711 8,856 8,338 7,162
Executives
 50 51 49 53 60 59 62 71 73 77 77
EX-01
 25 29 26 30 33 33 30 38 32 35 31
EX-02
 18 13 14 15 18 17 22 22 29 29 31
EX-03
 4 6 5 6 5 5 6 5 7 7 8
EX-04
 2 2 3 2 4 4 4 6 4 5 6
EX-05
 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1
Non-executives
 5,615 5,497 5,612 6,035 6,168 6,296 7,112 8,640 8,783 8,261 7,085
British Columbia 5,885 5,805 5,656 5,926 6,099 6,274 6,593 7,671 8,047 7,706 6,798
Executives
 59 59 58 56 61 60 55 60 62 58 58
EX-01
 30 33 33 29 33 31 24 26 23 24 21
EX-02
 21 18 15 19 16 20 23 23 29 22 24
EX-03
 5 5 7 6 6 6 6 8 6 7 8
EX-04
 3 3 3 2 6 3 2 3 2 3 3
EX-05
 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2
Non-executives
 5,826 5,746 5,598 5,870 6,038 6,214 6,538 7,611 7,985 7,648 6,740
National Capital Region (NCR) 20,635 20,888 19,239 19,038 19,496 20,235 21,116 22,416 24,496 25,644 24,484
Executives
 892 881 835 828 865 876 928 977 1,041 1,026 1,025
EX-01
 404 394 405 389 414 406 441 456 494 490 485
EX-02
 237 245 224 226 234 243 255 272 282 285 289
EX-03
 167 163 135 144 136 146 142 168 177 164 169
EX-04
 44 43 37 39 43 40 47 42 48 50 46
EX-05
 40 36 34 30 38 41 43 39 40 37 36
Non-executives
 19,743 20,007 18,404 18,210 18,631 19,359 20,188 21,439 23,455 24,618 23,459
Northern Region 174 220 205 195 217 232 244 265 283 283 282
Executives
 3 5 5 4 5 4 4 5 4 12 13
EX-01
 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3
EX-02
 2 4 4 4 5 4 3 2 1 5 6
EX-03
 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 3 3 2 2
EX-04
 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2
Non-executives
 171 215 200 191 212 228 240 260 279 271 269
Ontario (minus the NCR) 12,608 12,576 12,655 13,235 14,012 14,076 14,814 15,546 16,712 16,407 14,419
Executives
 164 167 168 165 169 172 188 185 206 223 227
EX-01
 96 99 104 96 97 96 103 103 117 124 124
EX-02
 42 42 40 45 49 53 60 60 62 71 70
EX-03
 18 17 18 18 16 18 20 19 21 20 25
EX-04
 6 5 3 2 2 1 1 1 2 4 4
EX-05
 2 4 3 4 5 4 4 2 4 4 4
Non-executives
 12,444 12,409 12,487 13,070 13,843 13,904 14,626 15,361 16,506 16,184 14,192
Outside of Canada 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Executives
 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
EX-02
 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Non-executives
 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Prairies 8,894 8,908 9,207 9,977 10,417 10,422 11,201 12,497 12,620 11,865 10,611
Executives
 116 120 120 116 128 123 119 119 118 101 114
EX-01
 54 56 53 53 58 57 40 44 36 34 39
EX-02
 23 26 30 26 29 26 32 34 32 31 33
EX-03
 28 30 30 32 32 31 37 33 43 30 36
EX-04
 7 5 6 5 9 8 9 7 7 6 6
EX-05
 4 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0
Non-executives
 8,778 8,788 9,087 9,861 10,289 10,299 11,082 12,378 12,502 11,764 10,497
Quebec (minus the NCR) 7,607 7,642 7,733 7,991 8,051 8,242 8,772 10,096 10,601 10,138 8,985
Executives
 98 93 85 90 89 91 98 96 106 104 109
EX-01
 43 40 36 40 39 41 36 36 40 39 40
EX-02
 38 37 32 34 35 36 45 44 46 47 50
EX-03
 5 6 9 8 7 6 5 6 9 8 9
EX-04
 11 9 7 7 7 7 10 7 9 8 8
EX-05
 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 2 2
Non-executives
 7,509 7,549 7,648 7,901 7,962 8,151 8,674 10,000 10,495 10,034 8,876
Unknown 0 35 2,649 2,809 3,148 3,438 3,948 4,446 4,834 5,239 5,828
Executives
 0 2 66 70 67 69 97 123 139 138 162
EX-01
 0 1 2 2 4 4 10 24 28 20 29
EX-02
 0 1 41 46 43 43 58 61 72 72 86
EX-03
 0 0 18 17 12 15 22 27 28 33 30
EX-04
 0 0 4 4 6 5 5 8 7 9 13
EX-05
 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 3 4 4 4
Non-executives
 0 33 2,583 2,739 3,081 3,369 3,851 4,323 4,695 5,101 5,666
Total 61,469 61,625 63,005 65,259 67,668 69,274 73,862 81,648 86,449 85,620 78,569
Federal public service
Atlantic 26,656 26,461 26,381 27,825 29,536 30,674 33,427 35,656 37,580 38,804 37,200
Executives
 281 292 295 291 308 324 354 397 433 416 432
EX-01
 160 168 166 170 170 185 203 234 251 245 248
EX-02
 73 70 77 72 84 85 87 100 117 112 116
EX-03
 34 41 40 38 40 40 48 45 49 42 50
EX-04
 13 12 10 10 13 13 16 18 14 15 16
EX-05
 1 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 2 2 2
Non-executives
 26,375 26,169 26,086 27,534 29,228 30,350 33,073 35,259 37,147 38,388 36,768
British Columbia 22,923 22,824 22,383 22,911 23,890 24,750 26,464 27,641 29,257 29,881 28,901
Executives
 202 208 208 199 224 238 252 280 308 303 319
EX-01
 121 127 129 117 134 144 158 175 180 175 184
EX-02
 52 49 49 52 52 63 64 66 85 80 84
EX-03
 22 24 23 22 27 23 24 28 32 36 36
EX-04
 7 8 7 7 11 8 6 11 8 10 13
EX-05
 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 2 2
Non-executives
 22,721 22,616 22,175 22,712 23,666 24,512 26,212 27,361 28,949 29,578 28,582
National Capital Region (NCR) 107,288 107,375 107,977 113,028 121,230 127,092 134,817 141,747 151,936 155,505 153,979
Executives
 4,626 4,662 4,576 4,742 5,092 5,321 5,824 6,176 6,511 6,608 6,762
EX-01
 2,340 2,334 2,322 2,394 2,566 2,669 2,896 3,065 3,267 3,294 3,299
EX-02
 1,116 1,134 1,126 1,149 1,233 1,303 1,476 1,591 1,648 1,682 1,742
EX-03
 852 869 818 871 935 976 1,042 1,129 1,190 1,195 1,269
EX-04
 206 204 195 218 230 235 257 251 261 288 284
EX-05
 112 121 115 110 128 138 153 140 145 149 168
Non-executives
 102,662 102,713 103,401 108,286 116,138 121,771 128,993 135,571 145,425 148,897 147,217
Northern Region 1,125 1,150 1,127 1,156 1,200 1,252 1,332 1,361 1,439 1,478 1,473
Executives
 21 25 24 27 27 29 26 31 32 33 44
EX-01
 15 15 15 19 15 18 15 19 20 17 23
EX-02
 5 9 8 8 10 8 7 6 6 10 14
EX-03
 1 1 1 0 2 3 4 6 6 4 5
EX-04
 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2
Non-executives
 1,104 1,125 1,103 1,129 1,173 1,223 1,306 1,330 1,407 1,445 1,429
Ontario (minus the NCR) 37,791 37,906 37,419 38,383 39,619 41,092 43,503 45,048 48,749 50,891 48,886
Executives
 344 338 328 335 343 353 394 405 451 475 504
EX-01
 198 194 198 200 198 206 229 240 261 263 280
EX-02
 94 98 90 97 105 108 122 119 137 158 159
EX-03
 39 33 31 30 30 31 35 39 43 41 51
EX-04
 10 8 6 4 4 4 4 5 6 9 10
EX-05
 3 5 3 4 6 4 4 2 4 4 4
Non-executives
 37,447 37,568 37,091 38,048 39,276 40,739 43,109 44,643 48,298 50,416 48,382
Outside of Canada 1,477 1,450 1,341 1,367 1,413 1,492 1,323 1,478 1,540 1,571 1,584
Executives
 271 280 262 258 252 256 227 247 263 262 262
EX-01
 128 134 130 130 127 124 107 127 130 135 137
EX-02
 73 80 74 67 65 69 61 60 67 64 62
EX-03
 53 51 47 52 52 53 49 53 56 55 56
EX-04
 15 13 9 7 6 8 8 7 9 7 7
EX-05
 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 1 1 0
Non-executives
 1,206 1,170 1,079 1,109 1,161 1,236 1,096 1,231 1,277 1,309 1,322
Prairies 30,400 30,724 30,811 31,766 32,846 33,801 35,909 37,817 39,479 40,400 38,755
Executives
 296 303 288 291 315 311 321 338 356 339 362
EX-01
 160 162 145 148 159 162 159 171 179 169 175
EX-02
 73 81 85 84 89 85 90 96 95 100 105
EX-03
 47 47 47 50 54 51 58 58 69 57 68
EX-04
 12 10 10 9 13 12 13 12 13 13 14
EX-05
 4 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0
Non-executives
 30,104 30,421 30,523 31,475 32,531 33,490 35,588 37,479 39,123 40,061 38,393
Quebec (minus the NCR) 29,374 29,548 28,720 29,719 30,827 31,767 33,981 36,298 38,910 39,926 38,872
Executives
 299 288 284 284 296 305 323 348 401 387 417
EX-01
 150 141 141 145 145 155 154 178 203 195 212
EX-02
 104 104 98 97 105 108 114 118 132 122 140
EX-03
 28 28 31 27 30 28 36 35 49 55 51
EX-04
 16 14 13 13 13 13 16 14 14 12 11
EX-05
 1 1 1 2 3 1 3 3 3 3 3
Non-executives
 29,075 29,260 28,436 29,435 30,531 31,462 33,658 35,950 38,509 39,539 38,455
Unknown 0 1,541 6,537 7,416 7,422 8,530 8,845 8,911 8,357 9,316 8,315
Executives
 0 18 215 251 213 239 251 284 314 332 238
EX-01
 0 9 57 66 64 79 78 91 102 99 60
EX-02
 0 6 82 96 78 80 95 96 107 118 107
EX-03
 0 2 48 50 40 50 55 57 69 76 49
EX-04
 0 0 21 25 21 16 14 27 24 26 18
EX-05
 0 1 7 14 10 14 9 13 12 13 4
Non-executives
 0 1,523 6,322 7,165 7,209 8,291 8,594 8,627 8,043 8,984 8,077
Federal public service total 257,034 258,979 262,696 273,571 287,983 300,450 319,601 335,957 357,247 367,772 357,965

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Data file Description
Population of the federal public service by region of work and executive level These data present population counts by region of work and executive level for the federal public service (all departments and agencies governed by the Financial Administration Act (FAA) Schedules I, IV and V) from  to .

Glossary of key terms

To assist you with your analysis of federal public service human resources data, we have compiled a glossary of key terms that are used in many of the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer’s (OCHRO) demographic snapshots and reports. This glossary has been developed to help provide a common language across OCHRO’s demographic snapshots and reports.

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