diff --git a/include/sysemu/numa.h b/include/sysemu/numa.h
index 514914f9a9..eae881e453 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/numa.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/numa.h
@@ -8,9 +8,6 @@
 #include "sysemu/hostmem.h"
 
 extern int nb_numa_nodes;   /* Number of NUMA nodes */
-extern int max_numa_nodeid; /* Highest specified NUMA node ID, plus one.
-                             * For all nodes, nodeid < max_numa_nodeid
-                             */
 
 typedef struct node_info {
     uint64_t node_mem;
diff --git a/numa.c b/numa.c
index 61531db5a1..84d4cb5d13 100644
--- a/numa.c
+++ b/numa.c
@@ -45,8 +45,10 @@ QemuOptsList qemu_numa_opts = {
 };
 
 static int have_memdevs = -1;
+static int max_numa_nodeid; /* Highest specified NUMA node ID, plus one.
+                             * For all nodes, nodeid < max_numa_nodeid
+                             */
 int nb_numa_nodes;
-int max_numa_nodeid;
 NodeInfo numa_info[MAX_NODES];
 
 static void numa_node_parse(NumaNodeOptions *node, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)