diff --git a/package/util-linux/util-linux.mk b/package/util-linux/util-linux.mk
index f330447fb8..445b4d1c79 100644
--- a/package/util-linux/util-linux.mk
+++ b/package/util-linux/util-linux.mk
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ UTIL-LINUX_DEPENDENCIES += gettext libintl
 UTIL-LINUX_MAKE_OPT = LIBS=-lintl
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_NCURSES),y)
+UTIL-LINUX_DEPENDENCIES += ncurses
+endif
+
 $(DL_DIR)/$(UTIL-LINUX_SOURCE):
 	$(call DOWNLOAD,$(UTIL-LINUX_SITE),$(UTIL-LINUX_SOURCE))