diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
index dafb9d91b604..388a0447b8e8 100644
--- a/mm/vmscan.c
+++ b/mm/vmscan.c
@@ -2244,8 +2244,16 @@ static bool sleeping_prematurely(pg_data_t *pgdat, int order, long remaining)
 		if (!populated_zone(zone))
 			continue;
 
-		if (zone->all_unreclaimable)
+		/*
+		 * balance_pgdat() skips over all_unreclaimable after
+		 * DEF_PRIORITY. Effectively, it considers them balanced so
+		 * they must be considered balanced here as well if kswapd
+		 * is to sleep
+		 */
+		if (zone->all_unreclaimable) {
+			balanced += zone->present_pages;
 			continue;
+		}
 
 		if (!zone_watermark_ok_safe(zone, order, high_wmark_pages(zone),
 								0, 0))