A majority of candidates qualifying for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) continue to be bachelor’s degree holders, according to official data presented in Parliament. In 2023, 75 percent of the recommended candidates had only a bachelor’s degree, while the remaining 25 percent possessed postgraduate or higher qualifications. This distribution has remained largely unchanged over the past five years.
Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Jitendra Singh, informed the Lok Sabha that 4,655 candidates were selected through the CSE between 2019 and 2023. Of these, 3,520 candidates (75.6 percent) were bachelor’s degree holders, and 1,135 candidates had postgraduate or higher-level qualifications.
Year-wise Qualification Trends
The year-wise data reflects a consistent pattern:
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2022: Among 1,020 selected candidates, 765 held bachelor’s degrees and 255 had higher degrees.
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2021: Of 748 candidates, 585 held bachelor’s degrees, while 163 were postgraduates.
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2020: Out of 833 candidates, 650 were bachelor’s degree holders.
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2019: Of 922 selected candidates, 672 held bachelor’s degrees and 250 held postgraduate degrees.
Gender-wise Selection Trends
The government also released gender-wise selection figures for recent CSE cycles. In both 2023 and 2022, men accounted for 65 percent of selected candidates, while women constituted 35 percent.
Earlier years reflected a wider gender gap:
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2021: 73 percent male, 27 percent female
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2020: 72 percent male, 28 percent female
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2019: 76 percent male, 24 percent female
The data indicates a noticeable improvement in female representation from 2022 onward.
Stream-wise Selection: Engineering Leads Strongly
Parliamentary data also highlights the dominance of engineering graduates in the CSE selection lists. In 2023, engineering candidates accounted for 49 percent of the recommended list, followed by humanities (32 percent), science (12 percent), and medical science (6 percent).
The pattern has been consistent across previous years. In 2020, for instance, engineering formed 53 percent of selections, compared to 29 percent from humanities, 11 percent from science, and 7 percent from medical science.
Five-year Aggregate (2019–2023)
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Engineering: 57 percent (2,671 candidates)
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Humanities: 27 percent (1,268 candidates)
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Science: 10 percent (442 candidates)
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Medical Science: 6 percent (274 candidates)
These figures reaffirm that engineering remains the most dominant academic background among successful UPSC aspirants, both annually and cumulatively.
