These types of organizations are usually led by a politician who is a member of acabinet—a body of high-ranking government officials—who may use a title such asminister,secretary, or commissioner, and are typically staffed with members of a non-politicalcivil service, who manage its operations; they may also oversee othergovernment agencies and organizations as part of a politicalportfolio.[2] Governments may have differing numbers and types of ministries and departments. In some countries, these terms may be used with specific meanings: for example, an office may be a subdivision of a department or ministry.
InCanada, first-level subdivisions are known asprovinces and territories. Five of the tenprovincial governments use the termministry to describe their departments (Ontario,Quebec,Saskatchewan,British Columbia, andAlberta) but the other five, as well as the three territorial governments, use the termdepartment. Despite the difference in nomenclature, both the provincial and federal governments use the term "minister" to describe the head of a ministry or department. The specific task assigned to a minister is referred to as his or her "portfolio".[3]
In theUnited Kingdom, all government organisations that consist of civil servants, and which may ormay not be headed by a government minister orsecretary of state, are considered to bedepartments. Until 2018, the term "ministry" had been retained only for theMinistry of Defence and theMinistry of Justice. On 8 January 2018, Prime MinisterTheresa May announced that the Department of Communities and Local Government would be renamed to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to emphasise her government's prioritising of housing policy. In September 2021, Prime MinisterBoris Johnson reverted the ministry to a department, renaming it theDepartment for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and giving it the responsibility of overseeing his government'slevelling up policy. It was then subsequently reverted to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government under the Starmer government in 2024.[4]
Some countries, such asSwitzerland, thePhilippines and theUnited States, do not use or no longer use the term "ministry" and instead call their main government bodies "departments". However, in other countries such asLuxembourg a department is a subdivision of a ministry, usually led by a government member called a secretary of state who is subordinate to the minister.
InAustralia at the federal level, and also at the state level, the termministry refers to the ministerial office held by a member ofCabinet, the executive, which is then responsible for one or moredepartments, the top division of the public service. The collection of departments responsible to a ministerial office and hence the minister, is referred to as the minister's "portfolio".
New Zealand's state agencies include many ministries and a smaller number of departments. Increasingly, state agencies are styled neither as ministries nor as departments. All New Zealand agencies are under the direction of one or more ministers or associate ministers, whether they are styledministries or not. Each body also has an apolitical chief executive, and in ministries and departments these chief executives often have the title of Secretary.
InMalaysia, the termministry is used for all but one government cabinet portfolio. ThePrime Minister Department is the only portfolio that usesdepartment instead. All government portfolios in the Peninsular Malaysia states usecommittee, whileSabah andSarawak state governments following the federal government's style in naming certain portfolios.
InHong Kong, the termbureau is used, and departments are subordinate to the bureaus.
InMexico, ministries are referred to assecretariats.
In 1999, the ministries of the federal government ofBelgium became known asfederal public service, the exception being the Ministry of Defense which kept the original designation.
InPortugal, the organization adopted by theXXI (2015–2019) and theXXII (2019-2024) governments ceased to expressly foresee the existence of ministries, with the portfolios of the ministers being instead referred as "government areas" and having, in theory, a more flexible organization. Although the term "ministry" has been eliminated from theGovernment communication and from most of the new published laws, it continues to be used in some legislation, especially those referring to some government areas that existed for a long time as ministries (Finance,National Defense,Foreign Affairs,Health, etc.). The term "ministry" also continues to be used as the vernacular to refer to a government area.
InNigeria each ministry is led by a minister who is not a member of theNigerian legislature (due to the separation of powers) and is responsible to the popularly electedpresident.
InLebanon, there are 21 ministries. Each ministry is led by a minister, and the prime minister is the 23rd minister of the Lebanese government.
Portrayals of various fictional government ministries include:
TheMinistry of Magic is the governing body of the wizarding world of the United Kingdom and Ireland in theHarry Potter series (not a department of the British Government responsible for magical affairs). It is led by a Minister for Magic.
InYes Minister the Department of Administrative Affairs (DAA) is responsible for the administration of other government departments and the British Civil Service. This ministry had a number of other responsibilities, includingNational Health Service administration,local government, organising state visits by foreign leaders, enforcing European regulations, the arts and telecommunications.
The Thick of It is set at the fictional Department of Social Affairs, later called the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship, or "DoSAC" for short.
The Spanish television showEl ministerio del tiempo follows the exploits of an investigative team in the fictional Ministry of Time, which deals with incidents caused bytime travel that can cause changes to the present day
