diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/array/array_base.h b/cpp/src/arrow/array/array_base.h
index e4af67d7e5f0b..21faa3f4279ea 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/array/array_base.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/array/array_base.h
@@ -237,8 +237,8 @@ class ARROW_EXPORT Array {
   /// This just delegates to calling statistics on the underlying ArrayData
   /// object which backs this Array.
   ///
-  /// \return const ArrayStatistics&
-  std::shared_ptr<ArrayStatistics> statistics() const { return data_->statistics; }
+  /// \return const std::shared_ptr<ArrayStatistics>&
+  const std::shared_ptr<ArrayStatistics>& statistics() const { return data_->statistics; }
 
  protected:
   Array() = default;