diff --git a/salt/elasticsearch/template.map.jinja b/salt/elasticsearch/template.map.jinja
index 659823df8..b726445ed 100644
--- a/salt/elasticsearch/template.map.jinja
+++ b/salt/elasticsearch/template.map.jinja
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@
 {%           else %}
 {%             do PHASE.forcemerge.pop('index_codec', none) %}
 {%           endif %}
-{%           if PHASE.forcemerge.max_num_segments is defined and not PHASE.forcemerge.max_num_segments %}
+{%           if PHASE.forcemerge.max_num_segments is not defined or not PHASE.forcemerge.max_num_segments %}
 {#             max_num_segments is empty, drop it #}
 {%             do PHASE.pop('forcemerge', none) %}
 {%           endif %}