The department was established in the Punjab Agriculture College and Research Institute, Lyallpur for supporting the scientists in the field of agricultural research. Later the M.Sc. classes in Statistics in 1973. Previously this department used to teach different courses of Mathematics and Statistics as minor/deficiency courses to the undergraduate and postgraduate students of different faculties of the university.
The staff of the department has been providing research guidance to the faculty and students of the University in planning, data collection, analysis and interpretation of the results of their research projects. This service is still going on regularly and exhaustively. The department started classes of M. Phil. in Statistics in 1991 in order to promote research in the discipline of Statistics and initiated M.Sc Mathematics in 2013
Statistics is an important field of study because of its application in all research areas. Statistical methods are widely used as an ultimate way to prove or disprove the hypotheses which are the basis of any future research. Enumeration Statistics has been used for centuries as the basis of policy and planning for the countries. All this makes the study of Statistics as a useful and interesting subject at the university level.
This department offers three degrees to its major students i.e. M.Sc Statistics, Mathematics and M.Phil Statistics. The students of post graduate program are trained in theoretical as well as applied Statistics. M.Sc students are also encouraged to take courses in computer science in order to equip them with modern tools of data analysis and management. This makes them very useful for different research organizations and business enterprises.  Therefore they are found in almost every field and serving the nation prominently.
The department also provides guidance to faculty members and students of all the disciplines in planning, conducting, data collection and analysis of the projects carried out by them, as part of their assignment in the UAF. Recently the department has established Consultancy and Data Analysis Desk (CADAD) for this purpose.