diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 6847177dc4a1..2ec9cc407216 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -5813,8 +5813,10 @@ void __meminit init_currently_empty_zone(struct zone *zone,
 					unsigned long size)
 {
 	struct pglist_data *pgdat = zone->zone_pgdat;
+	int zone_idx = zone_idx(zone) + 1;
 
-	pgdat->nr_zones = zone_idx(zone) + 1;
+	if (zone_idx > pgdat->nr_zones)
+		pgdat->nr_zones = zone_idx;
 
 	zone->zone_start_pfn = zone_start_pfn;