FPSC Says 45% Drop Claim Misleading After Publishing 2025 CSS Figures

Overview

• The Federal Public Service Commission has publicly rejected media reports that CSS candidate numbers fell by 45 percent, saying that claim rests on an incorrect, non-like-for-like comparison of examination stages.
• The FPSC published full 2025 figures to clarify the record: 64,081 registered for the Mandatory Preliminary Test (MPT), 18,139 applied for the written exam, 12,792 sat the written test, 354 qualified from the written stage, 342 were deemed suitable after interviews, and 170 were finally allocated.
• The commission explained that large attrition occurs at each stage of the CSS process, so raw counts from different stages or different years should not be compared directly without matching the same stage.
• FPSC officials also said some reports omitted MPT registration totals and ignored the Special CSS Examination 2023, which allocated 141 candidates and helped women, minorities and applicants from underdeveloped areas gain entry.
• The core dispute is over how to interpret stage-specific data rather than evidence of a systemic collapse in applicant interest, and the FPSC urged media to verify and align stages before publishing percentage-change claims.