diff --git a/lib/rhashtable.c b/lib/rhashtable.c
index 7fb474b18f1b..8023b554905c 100644
--- a/lib/rhashtable.c
+++ b/lib/rhashtable.c
@@ -847,6 +847,7 @@ int rhashtable_init(struct rhashtable *ht, struct rhashtable_params *params)
 	if (tbl == NULL)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
+	atomic_set(&ht->nelems, 0);
 	atomic_set(&ht->shift, ilog2(tbl->size));
 	RCU_INIT_POINTER(ht->tbl, tbl);
 	RCU_INIT_POINTER(ht->future_tbl, tbl);