diff --git a/src/SimulationRunner.cc b/src/SimulationRunner.cc
index 250d0f2fb2..06aaa66670 100644
--- a/src/SimulationRunner.cc
+++ b/src/SimulationRunner.cc
@@ -661,7 +661,13 @@ bool SimulationRunner::Run(const uint64_t _iterations)
   if (!this->statsPub.Valid())
   {
     transport::AdvertiseMessageOptions advertOpts;
-    advertOpts.SetMsgsPerSec(5);
+    // publish 10 world statistics msgs/second. A smaller number isn't used
+    // because the GUI listens to these msgs to receive confirmation that
+    // pause/play GUI requests have been processed by the server, so we want to
+    // make sure that GUI requests are acknowledged quickly (see
+    // https://github.com/ignitionrobotics/ign-gui/pull/306 and
+    // https://github.com/ignitionrobotics/ign-gazebo/pull/1163)
+    advertOpts.SetMsgsPerSec(10);
     this->statsPub = this->node->Advertise<ignition::msgs::WorldStatistics>(
         "stats", advertOpts);
   }