💡 Why it matters: Scientists, hospitals, governments and companies all rely on statisticians to tell real patterns from luck.
🌍 Around the world
- United States: Jobs for mathematicians and statisticians are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, much faster than average (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
💰 What it can pay
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Starting out
- ₦1.8M – ₦4.5M
- Mid-career
- ₦4.5M – ₦11M
- Senior
- ₦11M – ₦24M
≈ ₦375k – ₦917k a month mid-career. Indicative estimate by Incusim.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Closest profile: Data analyst-statistician. Typical starter to experienced salary. National Careers Service, 2026
🇺🇸 United States
Statisticians. Median pay; low and high are the 10th and 90th percentiles. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025
🇨🇦 Canada
Hourly wage low/median/high x 2,080 hours. Job Bank (Government of Canada), 2022-2023
Yearly pay before tax. UK, US and Canada figures come from the official sources named on each card. Nigeria has no official salary survey, so those are our indicative estimates. Real pay depends on the employer, the place, your skills and experience.
🛠️ What you actually do
- Plan surveys and experiments
- Clean and analyse data
- Turn numbers into clear charts and reports
- Spot patterns and make predictions
- Check whether results are reliable
⚡ Skills you'll need
- Mathematics
- Logic
- Coding
- Communication
- Attention to detail
Get ready at school
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Master's in Statistics or Biostatistics
- Online courses in R or Python
- Entry is through WAEC or NECO (secondary school exam) results and JAMB (UTME, the national university entrance exam)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Data analyst apprenticeships
- Graduate schemes in government statistics, health services and finance
🇺🇸 United States
- Entry-level data analyst jobs, then a master's later
- Internships with government agencies, hospitals or companies
🇨🇦 Canada
- Co-op programs mixing study with paid work terms
- Entry-level analyst jobs in government, health or finance
🗺️ Your path to this career
- 1Study Mathematics and Further Mathematics
- 2Take a degree in Statistics or Mathematics
- 3Learn tools like R, Python and Excel
- 4Join a research centre, hospital or company
- 5Specialise in health, finance or surveys
⏰ A day in the life
You clean survey data from a vaccination study, run an analysis and notice one region is behind the others. You draw a clear chart, write a short summary and share it with the research team.