The number of local public servants across Japan as of April 1 was 3,204,297, down 27,861 from a year earlier, the largest decline since the Home Affairs Ministry began surveying their numbers in 1975, the ministry said in a report released Sunday.

The number has declined for six consecutive years, according to the survey.

The number of public servants in prefectural governments across Japan was 1,666,944, down 24,909. The number in city, town and village governments was 1,537,353, down 2,952.

The survey said the declines are due to local government efforts to bring down the numbers to appropriate levels by a scrap-and-build scheme.

On a department-by-department basis, general administrative departments, including general affairs, labor and tax services, had 1,151,533 personnel. Special administrative departments, including education, police and firefighting, had 1,623,855.

The number of accounting personnel in public corporations, including hospitals, water supply and transportation, was 428,909.

Due to the smaller numbers of students, 15,756 education personnel across Japan lost their jobs.

Meanwhile, another ministry survey said an index rating the salary level of local public servants compared to that of national public servants was 100.7 as of April, down 0.5 point from the previous year.

The reduction is due to tight municipal finances nationwide, the survey said.

The index was between 105-110 for 44 municipalities, and between 100-105 for 793 others. Some three-fourths of all the municipalities in Japan, or 2,462, were under 100.

The Nagasaki Prefectural government topped the prefectural-level salary index with 103.4. Gunma and Hyogo prefectures followed with 103.2.

Miyagi Prefecture was the lowest at 100.1. The prefecture had cut public servants' salaries by 2.5 to 3 percent this year.

The city of Osaka topped the list for Cabinet-order designated cities with 106.9. The city of Urayasu in Chiba Prefecture topped cities, towns and villages with 107.4, the survey said.