Figure and statistic both name a number that reports a quantity, but they differ in where the number comes from. A figure is a single exact amount — a count, a total, a precise value on its own. A statistic is a figure produced from a body of data — an average, a percentage, a rate that summarises many measurements. Same family — a number standing for an amount — but a figure is just the value, while a statistic carries a whole dataset behind it.
Both words point at numbers, which is why they overlap, but each leans a different way. Figure comes from the Latin figura, 'shape or form' — first the drawn shape of a numeral, then the numeral, then the amount it stands for: the bare value. Statistic shares its root with 'state', from the numbers once gathered to describe nations; it is a value worked out from a spread of data. So a figure is simply how much; a statistic is how much, distilled from many readings.
figure
A figure is a number that names an amount — a count, a total, a precise value you could read straight off a page. It traces back to the Latin figura, 'shape or form': first the drawn shape of a written numeral, then the numeral itself, and finally the quantity it stands for. Unlike a statistic, which is distilled from a whole body of data, a figure is simply the value on its own. From a single figure a reader can infer very little about how it was reached, which is why exact numbers still need context.
statistic
A statistic is one number distilled from many — an average, a percentage, a count — that stands in for a whole mass of measurements. The word shares its root with 'state', since such figures were first gathered to describe nations: their populations, harvests, and taxes. A single statistic can clarify or mislead, which is why careful readers ask how it was collected before they let it settle an argument. The plural, statistics, also names the entire discipline of analysing such data.
| figure | statistic | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | a single exact number or amount | a number summarising a body of data |
| Where it comes from | the bare value itself | derived from many measurements |
| Carries behind it | nothing — just the value | a whole dataset |
| Often with | sales / latest / six-figure | official / key / according to the |
| Root | Latin figura, shape or form | linked to 'state', describing nations |
| Example | a record figure of eight billion | the statistic that traffic had doubled |
Picture one dark panel two ways. When the window simply rolls up and locks onto one exact number — a value held dead still, nothing behind it — that is a figure: how much, full stop. When the same panel fills with a row of bars, a curve runs over their tops, and one summary reading lights up in the corner, that is a statistic: a number with a whole dataset standing behind it. Every statistic is a figure, but not every figure is a statistic. If a spread of data sits behind the number, call it a statistic; if it is just the bare value, it is a figure.
figure
- iThe official figure for unemployment fell to its lowest in a decade.
- iiAnnual revenue reached a record figure of eight billion dollars.
- iiiShe quoted the exact figure from memory, down to the last digit.
statistic
- iOne striking statistic anchored her entire essay.
- iiAccording to official statistics, the population had doubled since 1990.
- iiiA single statistic can mislead if you do not ask how it was collected.
They swap freely in loose use — a 'sales figure' and a 'sales statistic' can mean the same thing. The tell is whether a body of data is doing the talking. If the number is an average, a percentage, a rate, or anything worked out from many readings, statistic fits best; if it is just a bare quantity you could read off a label, figure is the plainer word. Every statistic is a figure, but only the data-derived ones earn the name statistic.