As of June 30, 2024, Germany had a total of 1.96 million civil servants, judges, and soldiers. While the last two groups are not civil servants in the traditional sense, they are treated similarly under service law. According to the Federal Statistical Office, these three groups account for 36.4%-or well over one-third-of all employees in the public service. The largest segment of public sector workers (63.6%) are employed in private employment contracts as employees.
The majority of civil servants, judges, and soldiers are deployed in general and vocational schools, comprising 696,000 personnel (35.6%). Another significant concentration is found in public safety and order, which includes the federal and state police, as well as fire and local municipal authorities, accounting for 373,000 individuals (19.1%). Major deployment areas also include defense (195,000, or 10.0%), financial administration (including tax and customs authorities, 167,000, or 8.6%), political leadership and central administration (167,000, or 8.5%), and legal protection via courts, prosecutors’ offices, and correctional facilities (126,000, or 6.5%).
Looking at the decade leading up to the report, the number of civil servants, judges, and soldiers has increased by 5.8%, rising from 1.85 million in 2014 to 1.96 million in 2024. Meanwhile, the number of private workers in the public service grew substantially by 22.1%, from 2.80 million in 2014 to 3.42 million in 2024. Consequently, the total public employment force swelled by 15.6%, growing from 4.65 million at the end of June 2014 to 5.38 million at the end of June 2024.
Specific departmental changes over the past decade show increases in the number of personnel working in general and vocational schools (+52,000), public safety and order (+46,000), and political leadership (+22,000). Conversely, the number has fallen sharply in the transport and communications sector (-26,000), following the privatization of the German Federal Railway. The count also decreased in social security, family, and youth policy (-10,000), largely due to changes regarding civil service appointments at the Federal Employment Agency.
Geographically, only nearly one-fifth of all civil servants, judges, and soldiers work for the federal government (19.0%). The overwhelming majority (70.1%) are employed by the states (Länder), with almost one-tenth (9.7%) working at the municipal level. This distribution is heavily influenced by the organizational structure of education, as civil servants are most frequently employed in the education sector, often as teachers.
Examining state-level school service on June 30, 2024, 638,000 civil servants worked in general and vocational schools within the states-a figure that represented nearly three quarters (74.1%) of all employees in state schools. However, the ratio of civil servants to employees varies greatly by state. For example, the proportion was notably high in Bavaria (92.4%), Saarland (88.7%), and Lower Saxony (85.2%). In contrast, the proportion was relatively low in Berlin (28.2%), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (30.4%), and Saxony (33.4%).