THE country’s civil service currently employs a total of 1,305,976 personnel, according to data from the Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS) as of Sept 24, 2025, says Datuk Seri Dr Zaliha Mustafa (pic).
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) said in a parliamentary written reply that the data covers actual established posts with permanent warrants and excludes personnel from the police and armed forces service schemes.
According to her, the Education Ministry accounts for the largest share of civil servants with 511,345 employees representing 39.15% of the total public service.
This is followed by the Health Ministry with 267,149 (20.45%) and the Higher Education Ministry with 104,838 (8.03%).
Other ministries with notable numbers include the Home Ministry with 60,145 (4.6%), Prime Minister’s Department with 43,632 (3.34%) and the Rural and Regional Development Ministry with 24,097 (1.91%).
Aside from that, the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry has 20,514 (1.57%), Finance Ministry with 20,242 (1.55%) and the Sabah state government administration with 18,606 (1.42%) followed by the Housing and the Local Government Ministry with 17,940 (1.37%).
Meanwhile, Zaliha said Kelantan tops the list of states with the highest number of civil servants with 170,383 or 13% from the state.
This is followed by Perak with 140,160 (11%) and Johor with 132,032 (10%).
She was responding to Datuk Seri Madius Tangau (PH-Tuaran) who asked the government to state the total number of public service personnel by ministry and their state of origin, as well as the number of Federal public servants serving in Sabah, with a breakdown by ministry, department or agency, and their respective states of origin.
