diff --git a/ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/stats/StatsUtils.java b/ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/stats/StatsUtils.java
index 55f9d0c1e158..47274913fcbe 100644
--- a/ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/stats/StatsUtils.java
+++ b/ql/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/stats/StatsUtils.java
@@ -2112,7 +2112,7 @@ private static List<Long> extractNDVGroupingColumns(List<ColStatistics> colStats
     for (ColStatistics cs : colStats) {
       if (cs != null) {
         long ndv = cs.getCountDistint();
-        if (cs.getNumNulls() > 0) {
+        if (ndv > 0 && cs.getNumNulls() > 0) {
           ndv = StatsUtils.safeAdd(ndv, 1);
         }
         ndvValues.add(ndv);