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Interior ministry

Index of politics with the same name

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
5 min read
Source updated July 20, 2026

An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement.

In some states, the interior ministry is entrusted with the functions of ensuring national security, immigration issues and protecting places of detention.

Structurally, an interior ministry is part of the highest bodies of executive power and reports directly to the head of government. In states with a federal structure, the ministry often has branches at the level of states or federal subjects.

01Lists of current interior ministries

Named "ministry"

Named "department"

Other names

02Historical

Named "ministry"

Named "department"

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Interior ministry”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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Related topics

Home Affairs (disambiguation)

Home Affairs or Ministry of home affairs refers to an interior ministry in a government.

Interior minister

An interior minister or home minister is a cabinet official position that is responsible for the state's internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency management, supervision of regional and local governments, conduct of elections, public administration and immigration (including passport issuance) matters. This position is head of a department that is often called an interior ministry, a ministry of internal affairs, the Home Office or a ministry of home affairs.