The word statistics comes from the modern Latin phrase statisticum collegium, which gave rise to the Italian word statista and the German statistic. It acquired the meaning of the collection and classification of data generally in the early nineteenth century.

How did statistics originate?

Statistics may be said to have its origin in census counts taken thousands of years ago; as a distinct scientific discipline, however, it was developed in the early 19th century as the study of populations, economies, and moral actions and later in that century as the mathematical tool for analyzing such numbers.

Who founded statistics?

R. A. Fisher: The Founder of Modern Statistics.