Humanities Subjects Surge In UPSC CSE Final List; Engineering Down: Govt
The number of candidates from an engineering background recommended in the UPSC Civil Services Examination final list has dropped in the last five years, whereas the number of candidates with humanities has gone up in the last five years from 2019 to 023. The information was revealed by the Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh in the Lok Sabha.
As per the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the total number of final recommended candidates from humanities has grown by 65 percent from 223 to 368 since 2019. At the same time, the number of engineering candidates went down by 4.81 percent from 582 to 554 in the same duration. However, the engineering candidates still dominate the final selection list.
| Year | Engineering | Humanities | Science | Medical Science | Total Recommended |
| 2019 | 582 | 223 | 61 | 56 | 922 |
| 2020 | 541 | 193 | 66 | 33 | 833 |
| 2021 | 452 | 188 | 64 | 44 | 748 |
| 2022 | 542 | 296 | 114 | 68 | 1020 |
| 2023 | 554 | 368 | 137 | 73 | 1132 |
Notably, the number of candidates with a science background has doubled, registering the highest growth rate of 124.59 percent, whereas the Medical science candidates also increased over the past five years.
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Also, in the last five years number of candidates with bachelor’s degrees has gone up by 26 percent. From 2019 to 2023, the number of recommended candidates with a bachelor’s degree has gone up from 672 to 848.
Higher degree holders have also gone up, but less in comparison to the bachelor’s degree.
Also, the number of female candidates has nearly doubled to 397 (74.63%). The number of female candidates registered a slight decline in 2021, with 201 women candidates, whereas in 2023 the number of selected women candidates has gone up to 397.
While the number of male candidates recommended has gone down in subsequent years in terms of percentage.
| S. No. | Year | Male | Female | Total |
| 1 | 2019 | 702 | 220 | 922 |
| 2 | 2020 | 595 | 238 | 833 |
| 3 | 2021 | 547 | 201 | 748 |
| 4 | 2022 | 669 | 351 | 1020 |
| 5 | 2023 | 735 | 397 | 1132 |