diff --git a/src/OpenMesh/Tools/Decimater/McDecimaterT.hh b/src/OpenMesh/Tools/Decimater/McDecimaterT.hh
index 5cfd0802..e1bcefa7 100644
--- a/src/OpenMesh/Tools/Decimater/McDecimaterT.hh
+++ b/src/OpenMesh/Tools/Decimater/McDecimaterT.hh
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ private: //------------------------------------------------------- private data
   // reference to mesh
   Mesh&      mesh_;
 
-  unsigned int randomSamples_;
+  size_t randomSamples_;
 
 };