diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
index 4ce87a8eb7d7ed4e4aa7b519bce3f24684abe31c..d2ecd4d296243273224cec3d9191bcd474e5179b 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
@@ -2586,6 +2586,8 @@ int cmd_stat(int argc, const char **argv)
 	if (evlist__initialize_ctlfd(evsel_list, stat_config.ctl_fd, stat_config.ctl_fd_ack))
 		goto out;
 
+	/* Enable ignoring missing threads when -p option is defined. */
+	evlist__first(evsel_list)->ignore_missing_thread = target.pid;
 	status = 0;
 	for (run_idx = 0; forever || run_idx < stat_config.run_count; run_idx++) {
 		if (stat_config.run_count != 1 && verbose > 0)