Abstract: A method for performing asynchronous statistics updates in a database management system includes receiving a first query against the database, determining if present statistics related to the first query are stale and entering on a queue a request to acquire updated statistics if the present statistics are stale. The queue jobs are executed asynchronously with respect to the query request. As a result, a first query plan may be developed using the present statistics related to the first query. Thus, no delay in processing the query due to statistics updates is incurred. The first query plan may be executed and results given to the requester. At some later time, the request to acquire updated statistics related to the first query is processed asynchronously from the query request. If subsequent queries are received, the queue can delete duplicate requests to update the same statistics. Those subsequent queries can benefit from the updated statistics.