diff --git a/dlib/statistics/statistics.h b/dlib/statistics/statistics.h
index 7f52eed8a029fa54d6d572faf191cc8d0c3b5c77..7f793d07260b8f97afe44d0f2b20f1b276189f4a 100644
--- a/dlib/statistics/statistics.h
+++ b/dlib/statistics/statistics.h
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ namespace dlib
         long current_n (
         ) const
         {
-            return total_count;
+            return static_cast<long>(total_count);
         }
 
         template <typename EXP>