Robert H. Coats

Robert Hamilton Coats (July 25, 1874 – February 7, 1960) was Canada's first Dominion Statistician.

He was born in Clinton, Huron County, Ontario in 1874, the son of Robert Coats, who came to Canada from Scotland.

He worked as a journalist for The Toronto World and then the Toronto Globe until 1902 when, at the request of Prime Minister Mackenzie King, he became editor of the Labour Gazette; King himself had been the first editor of this publication which included statistical information related to labour.

After he retired in 1942, Coats served as statistical advisor to the government of Ontario and the United Nations.

He served four years as visiting professor of statistics in the Department of Political Economy at the University of Toronto.