diff --git a/numa.c b/numa.c
index bd0d2b7b0f..e4033994cd 100644
--- a/numa.c
+++ b/numa.c
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@
 #include "exec/cpu-common.h"
 #include "qemu/bitmap.h"
 #include "qom/cpu.h"
+#include "qemu/error-report.h"
+#include "include/exec/cpu-common.h" /* for RAM_ADDR_FMT */
 
 static void numa_node_parse_cpus(int nodenr, const char *cpus)
 {
@@ -126,6 +128,7 @@ void numa_add(const char *optarg)
 void set_numa_nodes(void)
 {
     if (nb_numa_nodes > 0) {
+        uint64_t numa_total;
         int i;
 
         if (nb_numa_nodes > MAX_NODES) {
@@ -153,6 +156,17 @@ void set_numa_nodes(void)
             node_mem[i] = ram_size - usedmem;
         }
 
+        numa_total = 0;
+        for (i = 0; i < nb_numa_nodes; i++) {
+            numa_total += node_mem[i];
+        }
+        if (numa_total != ram_size) {
+            error_report("total memory for NUMA nodes (%" PRIu64 ")"
+                         " should equal RAM size (" RAM_ADDR_FMT ")",
+                         numa_total, ram_size);
+            exit(1);
+        }
+
         for (i = 0; i < nb_numa_nodes; i++) {
             if (!bitmap_empty(node_cpumask[i], MAX_CPUMASK_BITS)) {
                 break;