The Number of Civil Servants Has Shown a Decreasing Trend Over the Past 10 Years

The number of Civil Servants (PNS) in Indonesia has decreased. Citing statistics from the National Civil Service Agency (BKN), as of December 31, 2021, the number of active PNS was 3,995,634. This figure is down 4.1% compared to 2020.

The decline in the number of PNS has been observed since 2016. At that time, the number of PNS reached 4,374,341, a decrease of 4.77% compared to 2015, which reached 4,593,604.

The number of PNS continued to decline until 2018, reaching 4,185,503. In 2019, the number of PNS increased slightly by 0.07% to 4,189,121. The number then decreased again to 4,168,118 in 2020.

According to BKN records, this decrease is due to the number of PNS retiring each year being greater than the number of Civil Servant Candidates (CPNS) accepted in that year.

This is in line with the policy adopted by the Indonesian Government, as implemented in several developed countries, namely a smaller composition of civil servants or policymakers (PNS), while the number of government workers/public service personnel (PPPK) is larger.

BKN notes that this step is taken to rapidly modernize the bureaucracy. In addition, until 2023, the government will reorganize the needs for types of State Civil Apparatus (ASN) jobs across all lines in all institutions.

More PNS in Regional Governments

The number of PNS working in central government institutions was 936,859 (23.4%) in 2021. Meanwhile, the number of PNS working in regional government institutions was 3,058,775 (76.6%).

The percentage of PNS in Regional Institutions over the past five years has decreased by 0.25% to 0.87% annually. From 2020 to 2021, the decrease was 0.44%.

Unlike Regional Institutions, the percentage of ASN in Central Institutions continues to increase. Over the past ten years, proportionally, the percentage of ASN in central institutions has increased by approximately 3%.