diff --git a/include/linux/vmstat.h b/include/linux/vmstat.h
index b2ccb6845595..c287998908bf 100644
--- a/include/linux/vmstat.h
+++ b/include/linux/vmstat.h
@@ -507,7 +507,7 @@ static inline const char *lru_list_name(enum lru_list lru)
 	return node_stat_name(NR_LRU_BASE + lru) + 3; // skip "nr_"
 }
 
-#if defined(CONFIG_VM_EVENT_COUNTERS) || defined(CONFIG_MEMCG)
+#if defined(CONFIG_VM_EVENT_COUNTERS)
 static inline const char *vm_event_name(enum vm_event_item item)
 {
 	return vmstat_text[NR_VM_ZONE_STAT_ITEMS +
@@ -516,7 +516,7 @@ static inline const char *vm_event_name(enum vm_event_item item)
 			   NR_VM_STAT_ITEMS +
 			   item];
 }
-#endif /* CONFIG_VM_EVENT_COUNTERS || CONFIG_MEMCG */
+#endif /* CONFIG_VM_EVENT_COUNTERS */
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_MEMCG
 
diff --git a/init/Kconfig b/init/Kconfig
index 666783eb50ab..e9b88d527aeb 100644
--- a/init/Kconfig
+++ b/init/Kconfig
@@ -992,6 +992,7 @@ config MEMCG
 	select PAGE_COUNTER
 	select EVENTFD
 	select SLAB_OBJ_EXT
+	select VM_EVENT_COUNTERS
 	help
 	  Provides control over the memory footprint of tasks in a cgroup.
 
diff --git a/mm/vmstat.c b/mm/vmstat.c
index a78d70ddeacd..01d76216d65a 100644
--- a/mm/vmstat.c
+++ b/mm/vmstat.c
@@ -1287,7 +1287,7 @@ const char * const vmstat_text[] = {
 	"nr_memmap_pages",
 	"nr_memmap_boot_pages",
 
-#if defined(CONFIG_VM_EVENT_COUNTERS) || defined(CONFIG_MEMCG)
+#if defined(CONFIG_VM_EVENT_COUNTERS)
 	/* enum vm_event_item counters */
 	"pgpgin",
 	"pgpgout",
@@ -1475,7 +1475,7 @@ const char * const vmstat_text[] = {
 	"kstack_rest",
 #endif
 #endif
-#endif /* CONFIG_VM_EVENT_COUNTERS || CONFIG_MEMCG */
+#endif /* CONFIG_VM_EVENT_COUNTERS */
 };
 #endif /* CONFIG_PROC_FS || CONFIG_SYSFS || CONFIG_NUMA || CONFIG_MEMCG */