UPSC CSE 2026 Notification on Jan 14: Check IAS, IPS & IFS Vacancy Trends of Past Years

UPSC 2026: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Examination (CSE) is still considered to be one of the toughest competitive examinations in India. The UPSC conducts the CSE every year to recruit candidates for Group A and Group B Services. Each year lakhs of aspirants apply for this examination with a hope to clear it in the very first attempt. As the nature of the examination remains the same and with each passing year the competition gets tougher, the candidates are required to do more hard work. The competition also grew when the number of vacancies were less and more candidates were competing for fewer seats. This raises the need that the candidates must take a close watch on the number of vacancies allotted for each of the services they are aspiring for and also the overall vacancies.

However, the UPSC 2026 Notification is still awaited, the candidates can have a look at the past year trends to get an idea about the number of vacancies announced in the past.

UPSC 2026 Vacancies: What to Expect

The official UPSC CSE 2026 notification is set to release on 14th January 2026 as per the information mentioned in the UPSC Exam Calendar 2026. After the notification will be released, we will get clarity on the total number of vacancies announced and also the service-wise allocation of vacancies as well as category-wise. However, based on past year trends in vacancies it can be estimated that the total number of vacancies that are going to be announced by the UPSC can be around 900-1,100.

How many Vacancies were announced in UPSC CSE 2025?

The UPSC CSE 2025 notification was released on 22nd January 2025 and with its release the total number of vacancies were also released which were around 979. The total number of vacancies announced for Indian Administrative Services (IAS) were 180, 150 for Indian Police Services (IPS), 55 for Indian Foreign Services (IFS), and others.

UPSC Past Vacancy Trends (2019-2025)

Having an understanding of the past year vacancy trends will help the candidates to predict the number of vacancies in the upcoming cycle which will help them to align their preparation levels. Here’s the number of vacancies announced in the some recent years:

Why Vacancy Trends Matter for UPSC Aspirants

Vacancy figures aren’t just numbers, they have real impacts on your UPSC strategy:

1. Competition Intensity

Higher vacancies means higher cut offs which will increase the level of competition. Therefore, the candidates must prepare in a more structured manner when the number of vacancies are higher.

2. Service Allocation

If the total number of vacancies are higher then the number of vacancies allotted to each coveted service (like IAS, IPS, IFS) will also increase which will increase the chances of the candidates to get their preferred services.

3. Category Cut-offs

When the number of vacancies are more, the category-wise numbers also increase which eases the cut off marks for each category. This enhances the chances of reserved candidates to get selected.

4. More Options in Services

If the overall number of vacancies are higher then there are chances that the number of vacancies allotted to each service will also be increased, which increases the chances of candidates to get selected among the given choice of services.

UPSC 2026 Important Dates

As per the official UPSC Calendar 2026, the key dates that were announced for the UPSC CSE exam are given below: