diff --git a/parquet/src/arrow/arrow_writer.rs b/parquet/src/arrow/arrow_writer.rs
index be278eda5360..332b893aa4bc 100644
--- a/parquet/src/arrow/arrow_writer.rs
+++ b/parquet/src/arrow/arrow_writer.rs
@@ -1560,4 +1560,21 @@ mod tests {
             panic!("Statistics::Int64 missing")
         }
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn statistics_null_counts_only_nulls() {
+        // check that null-count statistics for "only NULL"-columns are correct
+        let values = Arc::new(UInt64Array::from(vec![None, None]));
+        let file = one_column_roundtrip("null_counts", values, true);
+
+        // check statistics are valid
+        let reader = SerializedFileReader::new(file).unwrap();
+        let metadata = reader.metadata();
+        assert_eq!(metadata.num_row_groups(), 1);
+        let row_group = metadata.row_group(0);
+        assert_eq!(row_group.num_columns(), 1);
+        let column = row_group.column(0);
+        let stats = column.statistics().unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(stats.null_count(), 2);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/parquet/src/column/writer.rs b/parquet/src/column/writer.rs
index 57ccda3a3e61..910a9ed5dcaf 100644
--- a/parquet/src/column/writer.rs
+++ b/parquet/src/column/writer.rs
@@ -607,9 +607,11 @@ impl<T: DataType> ColumnWriterImpl<T> {
         let max_def_level = self.descr.max_def_level();
         let max_rep_level = self.descr.max_rep_level();
 
+        // always update column NULL count, no matter if page stats are used
+        self.num_column_nulls += self.num_page_nulls;
+
         let page_statistics = if calculate_page_stat {
             self.update_column_min_max();
-            self.num_column_nulls += self.num_page_nulls;
             Some(self.make_page_statistics())
         } else {
             None