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
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Core public administration
Atlantic 23,342 23,258 22,197 21,176 20,607 20,991 20,913 20,720 21,737 23,308 24,319 26,253 26,945 28,724 30,466
Executives
251 256 248 233 231 231 241 246 238 248 265 292 326 360 339
EX-01
145 149 147 136 135 135 139 140 140 137 152 173 196 219 210
EX-02
60 66 63 60 59 55 57 63 57 66 68 65 78 88 83
EX-03
36 32 28 26 27 30 35 35 32 35 35 42 40 42 35
EX-04
8 8 8 8 9 11 10 7 8 9 9 12 12 10 10
EX-05
2 1 2 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1
Non-executives
23,091 23,002 21,949 20,943 20,376 20,760 20,672 20,474 21,499 23,060 24,054 25,961 26,619 28,364 30,127
British Columbia 19,755 19,427 18,915 17,681 16,871 17,038 17,019 16,727 16,985 17,791 18,476 19,871 19,970 21,210 22,175
Executives
171 168 169 157 144 143 149 150 143 163 178 197 220 246 245
EX-01
113 112 115 101 94 91 94 96 88 101 113 134 149 157 151
EX-02
36 35 34 37 31 31 31 34 33 36 43 41 43 56 58
EX-03
19 18 17 15 15 17 19 16 16 21 17 18 20 26 29
EX-04
3 3 3 4 4 4 5 4 5 5 5 4 8 6 7
EX-05
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
Non-executives
19,584 19,259 18,746 17,524 16,727 16,895 16,870 16,577 16,842 17,628 18,298 19,674 19,750 20,964 21,930
National Capital Region (NCR) 92,977 94,416 92,935 87,699 86,601 86,653 86,487 88,738 93,990 101,734 106,857 113,701 119,331 127,440 129,861
Executives
4,041 4,167 4,162 3,899 3,760 3,734 3,781 3,741 3,914 4,227 4,445 4,896 5,199 5,470 5,582
EX-01
2,174 2,255 2,242 2,064 1,960 1,936 1,940 1,917 2,005 2,152 2,263 2,455 2,609 2,773 2,804
EX-02
904 920 918 875 864 879 889 902 923 999 1,060 1,221 1,319 1,366 1,397
EX-03
695 725 723 713 692 685 706 683 727 799 830 900 961 1,013 1,031
EX-04
187 185 191 167 162 162 161 158 179 187 195 210 209 213 238
EX-05
81 82 88 80 82 72 85 81 80 90 97 110 101 105 112
Non-executives
88,936 90,249 88,773 83,800 82,841 82,919 82,706 84,997 90,076 97,507 102,412 108,805 114,132 121,970 124,279
Northern Region 1,245 1,248 1,191 1,131 980 951 930 922 961 983 1,020 1,088 1,096 1,156 1,195
Executives
20 18 19 23 15 18 20 19 23 22 25 22 26 28 21
EX-01
15 13 14 20 15 15 15 15 19 15 18 15 19 20 14
EX-02
4 4 4 3 0 3 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 5 5
EX-03
1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 3 3 3 2
Non-executives
1,225 1,230 1,172 1,108 965 933 910 903 938 961 995 1,066 1,070 1,128 1,174
Ontario (minus the NCR) 27,954 28,111 27,421 26,069 25,075 25,183 25,330 24,764 25,148 25,607 27,016 28,689 29,502 32,037 34,484
Executives
197 201 205 185 182 180 171 160 170 174 181 206 220 245 252
EX-01
123 124 123 107 111 102 95 94 104 101 110 126 137 144 139
EX-02
52 54 57 56 49 52 56 50 52 56 55 62 59 75 87
EX-03
18 19 19 18 18 21 16 13 12 14 13 15 20 22 21
EX-04
3 3 5 4 3 4 3 3 2 2 3 3 4 4 5
EX-05
1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Non-executives
27,757 27,910 27,216 25,884 24,893 25,003 25,159 24,604 24,978 25,433 26,835 28,483 29,282 31,792 34,232
Outside of Canada 1,559 1,636 1,580 1,526 1,514 1,476 1,447 1,341 1,367 1,413 1,492 1,323 1,478 1,540 1,571
Executives
305 303 284 273 272 271 279 262 258 252 256 227 247 263 262
EX-01
134 139 135 132 134 128 134 130 130 127 124 107 127 130 135
EX-02
83 76 72 65 65 73 79 74 67 65 69 61 60 67 64
EX-03
60 63 59 56 54 53 51 47 52 52 53 49 53 56 55
EX-04
15 13 9 13 14 15 13 9 7 6 8 8 7 9 7
EX-05
13 12 9 7 5 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 1 1
Non-executives
1,254 1,333 1,296 1,253 1,242 1,205 1,168 1,079 1,109 1,161 1,236 1,096 1,231 1,277 1,309
Prairies 25,048 24,461 23,742 22,466 21,659 21,506 21,816 21,604 21,789 22,429 23,379 24,708 25,320 26,859 28,535
Executives
220 225 224 199 197 180 183 168 175 187 188 202 219 238 238
EX-01
129 135 135 119 118 106 106 92 95 101 105 119 127 143 135
EX-02
59 61 57 53 56 50 55 55 58 60 59 58 62 63 69
EX-03
27 24 27 21 19 19 17 17 18 22 20 21 25 26 27
EX-04
5 5 5 6 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 5 6 7
Non-executives
24,828 24,236 23,518 22,267 21,462 21,326 21,633 21,436 21,614 22,242 23,191 24,506 25,101 26,621 28,297
Quebec (minus the NCR) 24,716 24,667 24,047 22,768 22,023 21,767 21,906 20,987 21,728 22,776 23,525 25,209 26,202 28,309 29,788
Executives
236 227 227 210 194 201 195 199 194 207 214 225 252 295 283
EX-01
126 123 128 115 102 107 101 105 105 106 114 118 142 163 156
EX-02
73 71 66 59 66 66 67 66 63 70 72 69 74 86 75
EX-03
29 29 27 31 22 23 22 22 19 23 22 31 29 40 47
EX-04
7 4 6 5 4 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 7 5 4
EX-05
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 1 1
Non-executives
24,480 24,440 23,820 22,558 21,829 21,566 21,711 20,788 21,534 22,569 23,311 24,984 25,950 28,014 29,505
Unknown 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,506 3,888 4,607 4,274 5,092 4,897 4,465 3,523 4,077
Executives
0 0 0 0 0 0 16 149 181 146 170 154 161 175 194
EX-01
0 0 0 0 0 0 8 55 64 60 75 68 67 74 79
EX-02
0 0 0 0 0 0 5 41 50 35 37 37 35 35 46
EX-03
0 0 0 0 0 0 2 30 33 28 35 33 30 41 43
EX-04
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 21 15 11 9 19 17 17
EX-05
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 13 8 12 7 10 8 9
Non-executives
0 0 0 0 0 0 1,490 3,739 4,426 4,128 4,922 4,743 4,304 3,348 3,883
Total 216,596 217,224 212,028 200,516 195,330 195,565 197,354 199,691 208,312 220,315 231,176 245,739 254,309 270,798 282,152
Separate agencies
Atlantic 6,181 5,737 6,057 5,516 5,614 5,665 5,548 5,661 6,088 6,228 6,355 7,174 8,711 8,856 8,338
Executives
54 51 51 48 52 50 51 49 53 60 59 62 71 73 77
EX-01
28 25 23 23 26 25 29 26 30 33 33 30 38 32 35
EX-02
17 18 17 17 17 18 13 14 15 18 17 22 22 29 29
EX-03
7 7 9 6 7 4 6 5 6 5 5 6 5 7 7
EX-04
1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 2 4 4 4 6 4 5
EX-05
1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Non-executives
6,127 5,686 6,006 5,468 5,562 5,615 5,497 5,612 6,035 6,168 6,296 7,112 8,640 8,783 8,261
British Columbia 6,280 6,223 6,462 6,116 5,930 5,885 5,805 5,656 5,926 6,099 6,274 6,593 7,671 8,047 7,706
Executives
58 57 55 57 59 59 59 58 56 61 60 55 60 62 58
EX-01
35 32 29 31 32 30 33 33 29 33 31 24 26 23 24
EX-02
16 18 17 16 17 21 18 15 19 16 20 23 23 29 22
EX-03
6 6 7 8 8 5 5 7 6 6 6 6 8 6 7
EX-04
1 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 2 6 3 2 3 2 3
EX-05
0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2
Non-executives
6,222 6,166 6,407 6,059 5,871 5,826 5,746 5,598 5,870 6,038 6,214 6,538 7,611 7,985 7,648
National Capital Region (NCR) 21,973 21,941 21,721 20,734 20,646 20,635 20,888 19,239 19,038 19,496 20,235 21,116 22,416 24,496 25,644
Executives
889 934 918 904 893 892 881 835 828 865 876 928 977 1,041 1,026
EX-01
434 441 442 426 418 404 394 405 389 414 406 441 456 494 490
EX-02
198 222 214 217 234 237 245 224 226 234 243 255 272 282 285
EX-03
174 188 179 175 165 167 163 135 144 136 146 142 168 177 164
EX-04
38 41 47 46 40 44 43 37 39 43 40 47 42 48 50
EX-05
45 42 36 40 36 40 36 34 30 38 41 43 39 40 37
Non-executives
21,084 21,007 20,803 19,830 19,753 19,743 20,007 18,404 18,210 18,631 19,359 20,188 21,439 23,455 24,618
Northern Region 201 216 199 141 155 174 220 205 195 217 232 244 265 283 283
Executives
5 5 4 5 5 3 5 5 4 5 4 4 5 4 12
EX-01
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
EX-02
4 4 3 4 4 2 4 4 4 5 4 3 2 1 5
EX-03
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 3 3 2
EX-04
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Non-executives
196 211 195 136 150 171 215 200 191 212 228 240 260 279 271
Ontario (minus the NCR) 12,897 12,653 13,346 12,820 12,671 12,608 12,576 12,655 13,235 14,012 14,076 14,814 15,546 16,712 16,407
Executives
130 138 139 153 163 164 167 168 165 169 172 188 185 206 223
EX-01
72 81 81 85 98 96 99 104 96 97 96 103 103 117 124
EX-02
35 38 38 39 38 42 42 40 45 49 53 60 60 62 71
EX-03
16 14 13 21 19 18 17 18 18 16 18 20 19 21 20
EX-04
2 2 5 5 6 6 5 3 2 2 1 1 1 2 4
EX-05
5 3 2 3 2 2 4 3 4 5 4 4 2 4 4
Non-executives
12,767 12,515 13,207 12,667 12,508 12,444 12,409 12,487 13,070 13,843 13,904 14,626 15,361 16,506 16,184
Outside of Canada 4 4 2 2 2 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Executives
1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
EX-01
1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
EX-02
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Non-executives
3 3 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Prairies 10,118 9,978 9,903 9,057 9,071 8,894 8,908 9,207 9,977 10,417 10,422 11,201 12,497 12,620 11,865
Executives
96 106 104 106 112 116 120 120 116 128 123 119 119 118 101
EX-01
39 45 43 49 54 54 56 53 53 58 57 40 44 36 34
EX-02
24 25 24 21 24 23 26 30 26 29 26 32 34 32 31
EX-03
24 27 29 28 27 28 30 30 32 32 31 37 33 43 30
EX-04
7 7 5 5 5 7 5 6 5 9 8 9 7 7 6
EX-05
2 2 3 3 2 4 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0
Non-executives
10,022 9,872 9,799 8,951 8,959 8,778 8,788 9,087 9,861 10,289 10,299 11,082 12,378 12,502 11,764
Quebec (minus the NCR) 8,730 8,376 8,374 7,915 7,719 7,607 7,642 7,733 7,991 8,051 8,242 8,772 10,096 10,601 10,138
Executives
97 92 96 90 97 98 93 85 90 89 91 98 96 106 104
EX-01
40 36 37 39 44 43 40 36 40 39 41 36 36 40 39
EX-02
43 42 43 36 38 38 37 32 34 35 36 45 44 46 47
EX-03
6 6 9 7 5 5 6 9 8 7 6 5 6 9 8
EX-04
7 7 6 7 9 11 9 7 7 7 7 10 7 9 8
EX-05
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 2
Non-executives
8,633 8,284 8,278 7,825 7,622 7,509 7,549 7,648 7,901 7,962 8,151 8,674 10,000 10,495 10,034
Unknown 0 0 0 0 0 0 35 2,649 2,809 3,148 3,438 3,948 4,446 4,834 5,239
Executives
0 0 0 0 0 0 2 66 70 67 69 97 123 139 138
EX-01
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 4 4 10 24 28 20
EX-02
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 41 46 43 43 58 61 72 72
EX-03
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 17 12 15 22 27 28 33
EX-04
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 6 5 5 8 7 9
EX-05
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 3 4 4
Non-executives
0 0 0 0 0 0 33 2,583 2,739 3,081 3,369 3,851 4,323 4,695 5,101
Total 66,384 65,128 66,064 62,301 61,808 61,469 61,625 63,005 65,259 67,668 69,274 73,862 81,648 86,449 85,620
Federal public service
Atlantic 29,523 28,995 28,254 26,692 26,221 26,656 26,461 26,381 27,825 29,536 30,674 33,427 35,656 37,580 38,804
Executives
305 307 299 281 283 281 292 295 291 308 324 354 397 433 416
EX-01
173 174 170 159 161 160 168 166 170 170 185 203 234 251 245
EX-02
77 84 80 77 76 73 70 77 72 84 85 87 100 117 112
EX-03
43 39 37 32 34 34 41 40 38 40 40 48 45 49 42
EX-04
9 9 9 9 10 13 12 10 10 13 13 16 18 14 15
EX-05
3 1 3 4 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 2 2
Non-executives
29,218 28,688 27,955 26,411 25,938 26,375 26,169 26,086 27,534 29,228 30,350 33,073 35,259 37,147 38,388
British Columbia 26,035 25,650 25,377 23,797 22,801 22,923 22,824 22,383 22,911 23,890 24,750 26,464 27,641 29,257 29,881
Executives
229 225 224 214 203 202 208 208 199 224 238 252 280 308 303
EX-01
148 144 144 132 126 121 127 129 117 134 144 158 175 180 175
EX-02
52 53 51 53 48 52 49 49 52 52 63 64 66 85 80
EX-03
25 24 24 23 23 22 24 23 22 27 23 24 28 32 36
EX-04
4 4 4 5 5 7 8 7 7 11 8 6 11 8 10
EX-05
0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 2
Non-executives
25,806 25,425 25,153 23,583 22,598 22,721 22,616 22,175 22,712 23,666 24,512 26,212 27,361 28,949 29,578
National Capital Region (NCR) 114,950 116,357 114,656 108,433 107,247 107,288 107,375 107,977 113,028 121,230 127,092 134,817 141,747 151,936 155,505
Executives
4,930 5,101 5,080 4,803 4,653 4,626 4,662 4,576 4,742 5,092 5,321 5,824 6,176 6,511 6,608
EX-01
2,608 2,696 2,684 2,490 2,378 2,340 2,334 2,322 2,394 2,566 2,669 2,896 3,065 3,267 3,294
EX-02
1,102 1,142 1,132 1,092 1,098 1,116 1,134 1,126 1,149 1,233 1,303 1,476 1,591 1,648 1,682
EX-03
869 913 902 888 857 852 869 818 871 935 976 1,042 1,129 1,190 1,195
EX-04
225 226 238 213 202 206 204 195 218 230 235 257 251 261 288
EX-05
126 124 124 120 118 112 121 115 110 128 138 153 140 145 149
Non-executives
110,020 111,256 109,576 103,630 102,594 102,662 102,713 103,401 108,286 116,138 121,771 128,993 135,571 145,425 148,897
Northern Region 1,446 1,464 1,390 1,272 1,135 1,125 1,150 1,127 1,156 1,200 1,252 1,332 1,361 1,439 1,478
Executives
25 23 23 28 20 21 25 24 27 27 29 26 31 32 33
EX-01
15 13 14 20 15 15 15 15 19 15 18 15 19 20 17
EX-02
8 8 7 7 4 5 9 8 8 10 8 7 6 6 10
EX-03
2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 2 3 4 6 6 4
EX-04
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Non-executives
1,421 1,441 1,367 1,244 1,115 1,104 1,125 1,103 1,129 1,173 1,223 1,306 1,330 1,407 1,445
Ontario (minus the NCR) 40,851 40,764 40,767 38,889 37,746 37,791 37,906 37,419 38,383 39,619 41,092 43,503 45,048 48,749 50,891
Executives
327 339 344 338 345 344 338 328 335 343 353 394 405 451 475
EX-01
195 205 204 192 209 198 194 198 200 198 206 229 240 261 263
EX-02
87 92 95 95 87 94 98 90 97 105 108 122 119 137 158
EX-03
34 33 32 39 37 39 33 31 30 30 31 35 39 43 41
EX-04
5 5 10 9 9 10 8 6 4 4 4 4 5 6 9
EX-05
6 4 3 3 3 3 5 3 4 6 4 4 2 4 4
Non-executives
40,524 40,425 40,423 38,551 37,401 37,447 37,568 37,091 38,048 39,276 40,739 43,109 44,643 48,298 50,416
Outside of Canada 1,563 1,640 1,582 1,528 1,516 1,477 1,450 1,341 1,367 1,413 1,492 1,323 1,478 1,540 1,571
Executives
306 304 285 274 273 271 280 262 258 252 256 227 247 263 262
EX-01
135 140 136 133 135 128 134 130 130 127 124 107 127 130 135
EX-02
83 76 72 65 65 73 80 74 67 65 69 61 60 67 64
EX-03
60 63 59 56 54 53 51 47 52 52 53 49 53 56 55
EX-04
15 13 9 13 14 15 13 9 7 6 8 8 7 9 7
EX-05
13 12 9 7 5 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 1 1
Non-executives
1,257 1,336 1,297 1,254 1,243 1,206 1,170 1,079 1,109 1,161 1,236 1,096 1,231 1,277 1,309
Prairies 35,166 34,439 33,645 31,523 30,730 30,400 30,724 30,811 31,766 32,846 33,801 35,909 37,817 39,479 40,400
Executives
316 331 328 305 309 296 303 288 291 315 311 321 338 356 339
EX-01
168 180 178 168 172 160 162 145 148 159 162 159 171 179 169
EX-02
83 86 81 74 80 73 81 85 84 89 85 90 96 95 100
EX-03
51 51 56 49 46 47 47 47 50 54 51 58 58 69 57
EX-04
12 12 10 11 9 12 10 10 9 13 12 13 12 13 13
EX-05
2 2 3 3 2 4 3 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0
Non-executives
34,850 34,108 33,317 31,218 30,421 30,104 30,421 30,523 31,475 32,531 33,490 35,588 37,479 39,123 40,061
Quebec (minus the NCR) 33,446 33,043 32,421 30,683 29,742 29,374 29,548 28,720 29,719 30,827 31,767 33,981 36,298 38,910 39,926
Executives
333 319 323 300 291 299 288 284 284 296 305 323 348 401 387
EX-01
166 159 165 154 146 150 141 141 145 145 155 154 178 203 195
EX-02
116 113 109 95 104 104 104 98 97 105 108 114 118 132 122
EX-03
35 35 36 38 27 28 28 31 27 30 28 36 35 49 55
EX-04
14 11 12 12 13 16 14 13 13 13 13 16 14 14 12
EX-05
2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 3 3 3 3
Non-executives
33,113 32,724 32,098 30,383 29,451 29,075 29,260 28,436 29,435 30,531 31,462 33,658 35,950 38,509 39,539
Unknown 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,541 6,537 7,416 7,422 8,530 8,845 8,911 8,357 9,316
Executives
0 0 0 0 0 0 18 215 251 213 239 251 284 314 332
EX-01
0 0 0 0 0 0 9 57 66 64 79 78 91 102 99
EX-02
0 0 0 0 0 0 6 82 96 78 80 95 96 107 118
EX-03
0 0 0 0 0 0 2 48 50 40 50 55 57 69 76
EX-04
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 25 21 16 14 27 24 26
EX-05
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 14 10 14 9 13 12 13
Non-executives
0 0 0 0 0 0 1,523 6,322 7,165 7,209 8,291 8,594 8,627 8,043 8,984
Federal public service total 282,980 282,352 278,092 262,817 257,138 257,034 258,979 262,696 273,571 287,983 300,450 319,601 335,957 357,247 367,772

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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 March 31, 2010 to March 31, 2024.

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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