diff --git a/internal/trie/node/decode.go b/internal/trie/node/decode.go
index c67e84e49a..c08a63dc13 100644
--- a/internal/trie/node/decode.go
+++ b/internal/trie/node/decode.go
@@ -98,6 +98,8 @@ func decodeBranch(reader io.Reader, header byte) (branch *Branch, err error) {
 		if (childrenBitmap[i/8]>>(i%8))&1 != 1 {
 			continue
 		}
+		branch.AddDescendants(1)
+
 		var hash []byte
 		err := sd.Decode(&hash)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/internal/trie/node/decode_test.go b/internal/trie/node/decode_test.go
index c6f683aece..207208b627 100644
--- a/internal/trie/node/decode_test.go
+++ b/internal/trie/node/decode_test.go
@@ -176,7 +176,8 @@ func Test_decodeBranch(t *testing.T) {
 						HashDigest: []byte{1, 2, 3, 4, 5},
 					},
 				},
-				Dirty: true,
+				Dirty:       true,
+				Descendants: 1,
 			},
 		},
 		"value decoding error for node type 3": {
@@ -211,7 +212,8 @@ func Test_decodeBranch(t *testing.T) {
 						HashDigest: []byte{1, 2, 3, 4, 5},
 					},
 				},
-				Dirty: true,
+				Dirty:       true,
+				Descendants: 1,
 			},
 		},
 	}
diff --git a/internal/trie/node/encode_decode_test.go b/internal/trie/node/encode_decode_test.go
index f4bb168697..fe174a67aa 100644
--- a/internal/trie/node/encode_decode_test.go
+++ b/internal/trie/node/encode_decode_test.go
@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ func Test_Branch_Encode_Decode(t *testing.T) {
 						HashDigest: []byte{0x41, 0x9, 0x4, 0xa},
 					},
 				},
-				Dirty: true,
+				Dirty:       true,
+				Descendants: 1,
 			},
 		},
 	}