Who's behind the news?
Who's behind the news?
London, United Kingdom · Founded 1834 · Royal Charter 1887 · The world's oldest national organization for statistics
The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is a British learned society, professional body, and registered charity that has promoted the application of statistics and data for the public good since its founding on 15 March 1834 — making it the world's oldest national organization dedicated to statistics. It operates with three distinct but interrelated institutional roles: as a learned society publishing and promoting statistical research; as a professional body certifying and developing statisticians and data scientists; and as a charity advocating for the use of statistical evidence in public policy and societal decision-making. Its 11,000-plus members worldwide — known uniformly as "Fellows," a deliberate leveling that distinguishes the RSS from societies where fellowship is a mark of distinction — include statisticians, data scientists, academics, government analysts, medical researchers, economists, and anyone with a professional or scholarly interest in the discipline.
The RSS's tagline "Data | Evidence | Decisions" captures the practical orientation of an organization that was founded not to pursue statistics as an abstract discipline but to generate reliable information about society in order to inform public action. The founding members called themselves "statists" and their original aim was "procuring, arranging and publishing facts to illustrate the condition and prospects of society." Crucially, the idea of interpreting data, or having opinions about it, was explicitly excluded — hence the Latin motto Aliis Exterendum ("for others to thresh out"), meaning that others should draw conclusions from the facts the Society assembled. That founding restraint has long been abandoned in practice — the RSS is today an active advocate for evidence-based policy — but the historical irony is worth noting as a marker of how far the statistical profession's self-understanding has evolved over 190 years.
The Statistical Society of London was founded on 15 March 1834, emerging from the statistical section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, created a year earlier following a presentation by the Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet. The founding figures included Charles Babbage (computing pioneer and polymath), Thomas Malthus (population economist), Richard Jones, William Whewell (who coined the word "scientist"), and William Henry Sykes. The early membership overlapped almost completely with the BA's statistical section, and the Society's initial work focused on gathering social and economic data — occupational surveys, trade statistics, poor law data — that could inform parliamentary debate and social reform in an era of rapid industrialization.
The Society's founding moment reflects a distinctly Victorian epistemological anxiety: a belief that social problems could be addressed through the systematic collection of facts about them, combined with deep reluctance to be seen interpreting those facts politically. The exclusion of opinion from the founding mission reflected the political sensitivity of statistics in an era when the facts of poverty, mortality, and economic inequality were highly contested grounds. The Society provided a neutral clearing house for data at a moment when the British state was expanding its collection capacities — the General Register Office for births, deaths, and marriages was established in 1837, just three years after the Statistical Society's founding, an institutional development the Society had actively advocated for.
1834
Statistical Society of London founded
Founded 15 March 1834 by Babbage, Malthus, Jones, Whewell, and Quetelet (honorary) among others. Original mission: collect and publish social facts without interpretation (Aliis Exterendum).
1838
Journal of the Statistical Society of London launched
First issue May 1838. Became the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society after the 1887 Royal Charter; now published by Oxford University Press in three series (A, B, C) plus the newer Data Science and Artificial Intelligence journal.
1858
Florence Nightingale elected first female Fellow
Nightingale, who pioneered the use of statistical graphics — including her "rose diagram" (polar area chart) illustrating causes of Crimean War soldier mortality — became the Society's first female member in 1858.
1887
Royal Charter granted
The Statistical Society of London became the Royal Statistical Society by Royal Charter, formalizing its status as the national body for statistics in the United Kingdom.
1993
Merger with the Institute of Statisticians
The merger enabled the RSS to take on a professional body function alongside its learned society role — certifying professional statisticians (Chartered Statistician, CStat) and establishing structured professional development pathways.
2004
Significance magazine launched
Published jointly with the American Statistical Association, Significance targets an educated non-specialist readership — the RSS's primary public-facing editorial product, replacing The Statistician inherited from the 1993 merger.
2009
UK Science Council Licensed Body status
RSS received Licensed Body status from the UK Science Council, enabling it to award Chartered Scientist (CSci) status to suitably qualified members in addition to its own Chartered Statistician (CStat) designation.
Series A
JRSS: Statistics in Society
Applications of statistics to social, economic, and public policy questions. The Series A lineage is the oldest, continuing from the original 1838 journal. Published by Oxford University Press.
Series B
JRSS: Statistical Methodology
The methodological flagship — one of the most highly cited statistical journals in the world, publishing advances in statistical theory and methods. Oxford University Press.
Series C
JRSS: Applied Statistics
Applied statistics across medicine, biology, engineering, economics, and other domains. Founded 1952. Oxford University Press.
Open Access Journal
JRSS: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence
Newest RSS journal, covering the intersection of statistics with data science and AI. Open access.
General Audience Magazine
Significance
Published jointly with the American Statistical Association since 2004. Covers statistics and data science topics for educated non-specialists. The RSS's primary public-facing publication.
Practitioner Platform
Real World Data Science
Online platform for data science practitioners — case studies, explainers, and resources bridging statistical theory and applied data science practice.
Following the 1993 merger with the Institute of Statisticians, the RSS has developed a structured professional recognition scheme spanning multiple career levels. The most senior is Chartered Statistician (CStat) — a formal qualification recognizing professional competence in statistics awarded to approximately 900 members globally. Through its UK Science Council Licensed Body arrangement, the RSS also awards Chartered Scientist (CSci) status. Below CStat, the ladder includes Graduate Statistician (GradStat), Data Analyst, Data Science Professional, and Advanced Data Science Professional designations, with a degree accreditation scheme for university programs.
Unusually among UK learned societies, RSS Fellowship (the standard membership grade) is open to anyone with an interest in statistics — it is not a mark of distinction reserved for high achievement, as it is in societies like the Royal Society. This reflects a deliberate institutional choice to be inclusive and broad-based rather than elite and selective, producing a membership that spans working professionals, students, early-career researchers, government analysts, and interested members of the public alongside senior academics and practitioners.
Florence Nightingale
First female Fellow (1858). Pioneer of statistical graphics.
Charles Babbage
Co-founder (1834). Computing pioneer.
Thomas Malthus
Co-founder (1834). Population economist.
Ronald Fisher
President. Founder of modern statistical inference; analysis of variance, p-values, maximum likelihood.
William Beveridge
President. Architect of the British welfare state and the post-war social insurance system.
Harold Wilson
President. UK Prime Minister 1964–70 and 1974–76; former economics lecturer and statistician.
David Cox
President. One of the most influential statisticians of the 20th century; inventor of the Cox proportional hazards model.
Stella Cunliffe
First female President of the RSS.
The RSS's current activities reflect the expansion of the statistical profession's relevance into data science, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic decision-making. Its AI Task Force published "AI Is Statistics" — a position paper arguing that sound statistical thinking is foundational to responsible AI development, and that the statistical community's expertise in uncertainty quantification, inference, bias identification, and model evaluation is directly applicable to the challenges AI systems present. The RSS offers training in machine learning and data science alongside traditional statistical methods, and has extended its professional designations to encompass data science practitioners.
On public policy, the RSS advocates actively for the use of statistical evidence in government decision-making — including around statistics law, methodology transparency, and the integrity of public statistics. Its Statisticians for Society volunteer programme connects RSS members with charities and non-profits that need statistical expertise but cannot afford to commission it commercially. The annual RSS Conference is among the major events in the UK statistics and data science calendar. The Society also maintains sections for specialized statistical communities (Statistics in Sport, Medical Statistics, Statistics and the Environment, and others) and a network of local groups across the UK.
Royal Statistical Society (RSS)
12 Errol Street, London, EC1Y 8LX, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0)20 7638 8998 · rss.org.uk
Founded: 15 March 1834 (Statistical Society of London) · Royal Charter 1887 · Merged with Institute of Statisticians 1993
Membership: 11,000+ Fellows worldwide · ~900 Chartered Statisticians (CStat) · all members known as "Fellows"
Key publications: JRSS Series A (Statistics in Society) · JRSS Series B (Statistical Methodology) · JRSS Series C (Applied Statistics) · JRSS Data Science and Artificial Intelligence · Significance magazine (with ASA) · Real World Data Science
Journals email: journal@rss.org.uk