The article focuses on the challenges arising in the process of determining the public administration manpower in Russia. The issue of an adequate number of public servants is not only of theoretical importance but of practical one as well due to ongoing reforms in the sphere of administration and public service. To precisely determine the number of public servants required in Russia is extremely difficult for the lack of clear criteria that an employee would meet to be referred to a class of public servants. In pre-revolutionary Russia administration staff differed in the enrollment method, scope of rights and privileges, nature of employment duties and fees. The officials engaged in public administration were not all subject to registration, while some categories of public servants were completely ignored. The existence of public servants in military institutions and military officials in civil organizations also complicates the issue of determining the exact number of bureaucrats in Russia.