A ministry is a governmental organisation, headed by a minister, that is usually meant to manage a specific sector of public administration. Ministries have a bureaucratic structure.
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Different states have different number of ministries. Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary notes that all states have Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense (that can be divided into ministries for land forces and navy), Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Finance. Ministry of Education is also common.
Ministries are usually an immediate subdivision of the Cabinet (i.e. the executive branch of the government), and subordinate to its chief executive who is either called prime minister, chief minister, president, secretary, minister-president or (federal) chancellor.
In the 20th century, many countries (including monarchies such as Belgium and the United Kingdom) have trended away from the usage of the designation "ministry", preferring to replace it partially or entirely with words such as department, office, state secretariat, public service, or even agency and bureau. In some countries, these terms may be used with specific meanings, for example an office may be a subdivision of a department.
Canada
In Canada, five of the ten provincial governments use the term "ministry" to describe their departments (namely Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Alberta) but the other five, as well as the federal government, use the terms "department" or "agency". 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 tasks assigned to a minister is referred to as his or her "portfolio".
India
In India, the government departments take the practical actions which are debated by MLAs in the legislative assembly and by the MPs in the parliament.
New Zealand
New Zealand's state agencies include a large number of ministries and a smaller number of departments. Increasingly, state sector 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 styled "ministries" or not, though each body also has an apolitical chief executive. In ministries and departments, these chief executives often have the title of Secretary.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, all government organizations that consist of civil servants, and which may or may not be headed by a government minister or secretary of state, are considered as departments. The term "ministry" has been retained for the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice.
Other countries
Some countries, such as Australia, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, the Philippines and the United States, do not use the term "ministry" for their sectors of government public administration, and instead call them "departments".
However, in other countries such as Luxembourg for example, the department is the subdivision of the ministry, usually led by a government member called secretary of state who is subordinate to the respective minister, the ministers being subordinate to the prime minister.
In Hong Kong, the term "bureau" is used, and departments are subordinate to the bureaus, while in Mexico, ministries are referred to as secretariats. The government departments of the Soviet Union before 1946 were named "People's Commissariats". In the European Union, departments are termed Directorate(s)-General with the civil servant in charge called a Director-General (in the European Commission, the political head of the department is one of the European Commissioners). In Nigeria each ministry is led by a minister who is not a member of the Nigerian legislature (due to the separation of powers) and is responsible to the popularly elected President.
In Lebanon, there are 21 ministries; each ministry is led by a minister, and the Prime Minister is the 22nd minister of the Lebanese government.
In popular culture
The term "ministry" has also been widely used in satire and parody to describe fictional departments.