The UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE) is one of the most competitive examinations in the world. This page compiles authoritative statistics on registered candidates, success rates, vacancy trends, and stage-wise attrition from 2019 to 2024 — sourced directly from UPSC Annual Reports and official notifications.
Journalists, bloggers, researchers, and UPSC aspirants are welcome to cite and share these statistics freely with attribution to Vaidra (vaidra.in) and the primary source: UPSC Annual Reports (upsc.gov.in).
The four headline figures from the UPSC Civil Services Examination 2023 illustrate both the scale of the examination and the extreme competition for a limited number of positions.
1.3 Cr
Registered (2023)
13,07,216 total
1,016
Recommended (2023)
IAS, IPS, IFS & others
0.08%
Success Rate (2023)
Of registered candidates
1,056
Vacancies (2024)
Highest since 2019
The table below tracks registered candidates, actual appearances, and final recommendations for each UPSC Civil Services Examination cycle from 2019 to 2023. Success rate is calculated as recommended candidates divided by registered candidates.
| Year | Registered | Appeared | Recommended | Success Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 13,07,216 | 5,77,565 | 1,016 | 0.08% |
| 2022 | 11,52,827 | 5,73,735 | 933 | 0.08% |
| 2021 | 10,93,948 | 5,21,167 | 712 | 0.07% |
| 2020 | 10,58,772 | 4,82,770 | 761 | 0.07% |
| 2019 | 9,27,546 | 4,56,094 | 829 | 0.09% |
Source: UPSC Annual Reports. Success rate = recommended ÷ registered candidates.
UPSC notifies vacancies for all services including IAS (Indian Administrative Service), IPS (Indian Police Service), IFS (Indian Foreign Service), and various Central Services. Total vacancies vary year to year based on government requirements, retirements, and backlog filling. The 2024 notification of 1,056 posts is the highest since 2019, making this an important cycle for aspirants.
| Year | Total Vacancies | Year-on-Year Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1,056 | +40 (+3.9%) |
| 2023 | 1,016 | +155 (+18.0%) |
| 2022 | 861 | +149 (+20.9%) |
| 2021 | 712 | -84 (-10.6%) |
| 2020 | 796 | -131 (-14.1%) |
| 2019 | 927 | — (baseline) |
Source: UPSC official notifications and Annual Reports. Includes all services (IAS, IPS, IFS, Central Services).
The UPSC CSE selection process involves three stages: Preliminary examination (objective), Mains examination (written), and Personality Test (interview). Each stage is eliminatory. The following funnel illustrates the dramatic attrition at each stage for CSE 2023, providing a clear picture of the examination's competitiveness.
Candidates who applied
44% of registered candidates
2.5% of those who appeared
~20% of Mains candidates
35% of interview candidates
Key insight: Of every 1,000 candidates who register, only approximately 1 is finally recommended for a service. The two biggest drop-off points are between registration and Prelims appearance (56% of registered candidates never appear), and between Prelims appearance and Mains qualification (only 2.5% of those who appear clear Prelims).
UPSC CSE vacancies are distributed across reservation categories as mandated by the Constitution of India and subsequent legislation. The figures below are indicative for CSE 2023 (1,016 total vacancies) and reflect the standard reservation matrix. Exact category-wise breakdowns are published in the UPSC official notification for each cycle.
| Category | Indicative Vacancies | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| General (UR) | 444 | Open competition merit list |
| OBC | 277 | 27% reservation |
| SC | 152 | 15% reservation |
| ST | 76 | 7.5% reservation |
| EWS | 67 | 10% reservation (post-2019) |
Note: Indicative distribution based on standard reservation matrix. Verify exact figures from the UPSC official notification for each cycle.
To put these numbers in context: the UPSC Civil Services Examination is frequently cited as one of the three most competitive examinations in the world, alongside the Chinese National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) and South Korea's CSAT. However, unlike those examinations, UPSC CSE is open to candidates up to age 32 (General category) — meaning aspirants invest multiple years preparing.
The average serious UPSC aspirant spends 2–4 years preparing, attends coaching classes (costing ₹1–3 lakh/year in Delhi), and attempts the examination 2–3 times before either succeeding or exhausting attempts. The total number of attempt-years invested by all active aspirants in India at any given time is estimated in the crores.
Against this backdrop, AI-powered platforms like Vaidra represent a structural change: aspirants in Tier-2 cities without access to elite Delhi coaching now have equivalent preparation tools at a fraction of the cost, personalised to their learning pace through AI-driven evaluation and mentoring.
All statistics on this page are sourced from UPSC Annual Reports published at upsc.gov.in, and official UPSC Civil Services Examination notifications. Data has been compiled and presented by Vaidra for ease of reference. Last updated .
If you cite these statistics, please attribute: “Source: UPSC Annual Reports (upsc.gov.in), compiled by Vaidra (vaidra.in)”.