THE government will begin its third census of civil servants on Tuesday, with an aim to streamline the civil service, reduce its expenditures and increase its effectiveness, officials said Sunday.

Tith Sothea, spokesman of the Press and Quick Reaction Unit at the Council of Ministers, said this is the third census of civil servants after earlier surveys were conducted in 1995 and 1999-2001.

“The census is targeted at civil servants whose names are listed in the salary lists as of February 2010, which number 176,829,” he said.

Tith Sothea said that in the two previous censuses, the government found a total of 27,499 “ghost” names and other abnormalities in the government’s civil servant salary lists. Any names of civil servants found by this week’s census to be illegitimate will be deleted from the lists, he added.