Statistics from the Civil Service Commission (CSC) reveal that the number of Maldivian civil service employees has increased by 16 percent over the past three years, while total expenditure on salaries has surged by 44 percent.
According to data obtained by Adhadhu through a Right to Information (RTI) request, there were a total of 29,386 civil service employees as of November 2023. This figure comprised 28,717 permanent staff and 721 temporary staff.
However, by September of this year, the total number of employees rose to 34,112, consisting of 32,656 permanent staff and 1,456 temporary staff. This represents an increase of 4,726 employees.
During this period, monthly expenditure on civil service salaries grew from MVR 354.5 million to MVR 511.2 million—an increase of MVR 156.7 million per month. A primary driver for this rise in spending is the structural changes brought to the pay framework by the Pay Commission.
| Year | Employees | Salary (in millions) |
| November 2023 | 29,386 | 354.5 |
| December 2023 | 29,446 | 355.0 |
| December 2024 | 31,177 | 380.7 |
| December 2025 | 33,252 | 489.1 |
| September 2026 | 34,112 | 511.2 |
The number of staff within the Civil Service Commission’s own administration also increased by more than 100 over the past three years, with its salary expenditure rising from MVR 20 million to MVR 37.5 million.
While the Commission had 2,441 employees in November 2023, that number reached 2,558 by September this year. Despite the growth in both workforce size and salary expenditure across the civil service and the Commission, public complaints regarding the quality of services at government offices remain high.
