Condition
Size of the public service
How fast has the Canberra bureaucracy grown?
Size of the public service: 159k in 2021-22, 199k in 2024-25.
- Latest
- +24.7%
- Since the government took office
- Higher+24.7%
- Over the past year
- Higher+7.4%
APS employees at 30 June
- Headcount at 30 June
What this is
The Australian Public Service is the federal bureaucracy: departments and agencies such as Services Australia, the ATO and Home Affairs. It does not include the military, state public servants, or staff of government businesses.
Why it matters
Every public servant is paid by taxpayers. Growth can mean better services, or more administration, regulation and cost. We compare it with population growth to see whether the bureaucracy is growing faster than the country it serves.
More from the figures
- The APS grew from 159,179 employees at 30 June 2022 to 198,529 at 30 June 2025: 39,350 more public servants.
- Australia's population grew 6.1% over the same three years, so the APS grew about 4.1 times faster than the population it serves.
- The Budget estimates the APS Average Staffing Level at 217,256 in 2026-27.
- The government says about 13,200 of the new roles replaced external contractors and consultants, around one-third of the increase in staffing since 2022.
How it’s calculated
APS headcount (ongoing + non-ongoing) from APSC data at 30 June. The population benchmark is the change in ABS estimated resident population between the June quarters of the same years, computed automatically from the ABS Data API.