diff --git a/plugins/postgresql/postgresql.go b/plugins/postgresql/postgresql.go
index 5310f7bd6..e72ada85f 100644
--- a/plugins/postgresql/postgresql.go
+++ b/plugins/postgresql/postgresql.go
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ type Postgresql struct {
 	Servers []*Server
 }
 
+var ignoredColumns = map[string]bool{"datid": true, "datname": true, "stats_reset": true}
+
 var sampleConfig = `
 	# specify servers via an array of tables
 	[[postgresql.servers]]
@@ -59,8 +61,11 @@ func (p *Postgresql) Description() string {
 	return "Read metrics from one or many postgresql servers"
 }
 
+func (p *Postgresql) IgnoredColumns() map[string]bool {
+	return ignoredColumns
+}
+
 var localhost = &Server{Address: "sslmode=disable"}
-var ignoredColumns = map[string]bool{"datid": true, "datname": true, "stats_reset": true}
 
 func (p *Postgresql) Gather(acc plugins.Accumulator) error {
 	if len(p.Servers) == 0 {
@@ -157,7 +162,8 @@ func (p *Postgresql) accRow(row scanner, acc plugins.Accumulator, serv *Server)
 	tags := map[string]string{"server": serv.Address, "db": dbname.String()}
 
 	for col, val := range columnMap {
-		if !ignoredColumns[col] {
+		_, ignore := ignoredColumns[col]
+		if !ignore {
 			acc.Add(col, *val, tags)
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/plugins/postgresql/postgresql_test.go b/plugins/postgresql/postgresql_test.go
index f05fddb68..4c44addce 100644
--- a/plugins/postgresql/postgresql_test.go
+++ b/plugins/postgresql/postgresql_test.go
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ func TestPostgresqlGeneratesMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 	err := p.Gather(&acc)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
+	availableColumns := make(map[string]bool)
+	for _, col := range p.Servers[0].OrderedColumns {
+		availableColumns[col] = true
+	}
+
 	intMetrics := []string{
 		"xact_commit",
 		"xact_rollback",
@@ -43,6 +48,7 @@ func TestPostgresqlGeneratesMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 		"temp_files",
 		"temp_bytes",
 		"deadlocks",
+		"numbackends",
 	}
 
 	floatMetrics := []string{
@@ -50,13 +56,26 @@ func TestPostgresqlGeneratesMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 		"blk_write_time",
 	}
 
+	metricsCounted := 0
+
 	for _, metric := range intMetrics {
-		assert.True(t, acc.HasIntValue(metric))
+		_, ok := availableColumns[metric]
+		if ok {
+			assert.True(t, acc.HasIntValue(metric))
+			metricsCounted++
+		}
 	}
 
 	for _, metric := range floatMetrics {
-		assert.True(t, acc.HasFloatValue(metric))
+		_, ok := availableColumns[metric]
+		if ok {
+			assert.True(t, acc.HasFloatValue(metric))
+			metricsCounted++
+		}
 	}
+
+	assert.True(t, metricsCounted > 0)
+	assert.Equal(t, len(availableColumns) - len(p.IgnoredColumns()), metricsCounted)
 }
 
 func TestPostgresqlTagsMetricsWithDatabaseName(t *testing.T) {