The Office of Information Policy (OIP) has released its Summary of Annual FOIA Reports for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023. This summary provides an overview of FOIA activities across the government during the previous fiscal year, examining key statistics in FOIA administration and identifying trends in FOIA processing. Each summary serves as a resource for both agencies and the public to gain an understanding of overall FOIA administration.
As highlighted in this year's summary, the government received 1,199,699 requests during FY 2023 – the highest number of requests ever received and the first time over one million requests were received in a single year. Agencies responded to this demand by processing a record-setting 1,122,211 requests. The federal government’s overall backlog decreased by nearly 3% in FY 2023. Agencies received 14,443 administrative appeals and processed 14,789 appeals, with more than two-thirds of federal agencies ending FY 2023 with no pending appeals. The overall number of (a)(2) proactive disclosures increased by almost 5%.
OIP's latest summary is available on its Reports page, where it can be compared with previous summaries dating back to FY 2006. All agencies subject to the FOIA finalized their FY 2023 Annual FOIA Report data. This information can be easily viewed, compared, and analyzed on FOIA.gov's Data page. Subscribe to FOIA Post email updates to receive additional FOIA updates from OIP.