diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/unicode/locid.h b/icu4c/source/common/unicode/locid.h
index 7e410e53c741..b474a744344a 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/unicode/locid.h
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/unicode/locid.h
@@ -1121,7 +1121,7 @@ template<typename StringClass, typename OutputIterator> inline void
 Locale::getKeywords(OutputIterator iterator, UErrorCode& status) const
 {
     LocalPointer<StringEnumeration> keys(createKeywords(status));
-    if (U_FAILURE(status)) {
+    if (U_FAILURE(status) || keys.isNull()) {
         return;
     }
     for (;;) {
@@ -1138,7 +1138,7 @@ template<typename StringClass, typename OutputIterator> inline void
 Locale::getUnicodeKeywords(OutputIterator iterator, UErrorCode& status) const
 {
     LocalPointer<StringEnumeration> keys(createUnicodeKeywords(status));
-    if (U_FAILURE(status)) {
+    if (U_FAILURE(status) || keys.isNull()) {
         return;
     }
     for (;;) {
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/loctest.cpp b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/loctest.cpp
index 8db52c6b48d6..ee946569c688 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/loctest.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/loctest.cpp
@@ -233,7 +233,9 @@ void LocaleTest::runIndexedTest( int32_t index, UBool exec, const char* &name, c
     TESTCASE_AUTO(TestCreateUnicodeKeywords);
     TESTCASE_AUTO(TestKeywordVariantParsing);
     TESTCASE_AUTO(TestCreateKeywordSet);
+    TESTCASE_AUTO(TestCreateKeywordSetEmpty);
     TESTCASE_AUTO(TestCreateUnicodeKeywordSet);
+    TESTCASE_AUTO(TestCreateUnicodeKeywordSetEmpty);
     TESTCASE_AUTO(TestGetKeywordValueStdString);
     TESTCASE_AUTO(TestGetUnicodeKeywordValueStdString);
     TESTCASE_AUTO(TestSetKeywordValue);
@@ -1912,6 +1914,21 @@ LocaleTest::TestCreateKeywordSet(void) {
                result.find("collation") != result.end());
 }
 
+void
+LocaleTest::TestCreateKeywordSetEmpty(void) {
+    IcuTestErrorCode status(*this, "TestCreateKeywordSetEmpty()");
+
+    static const Locale l("de");
+
+    std::set<std::string> result;
+    l.getKeywords<std::string>(
+            std::insert_iterator<decltype(result)>(result, result.begin()),
+            status);
+    status.errIfFailureAndReset("\"%s\"", l.getName());
+
+    assertEquals("set::size()", 0, static_cast<int32_t>(result.size()));
+}
+
 void
 LocaleTest::TestCreateUnicodeKeywordSet(void) {
     IcuTestErrorCode status(*this, "TestCreateUnicodeKeywordSet()");
@@ -1931,6 +1948,21 @@ LocaleTest::TestCreateUnicodeKeywordSet(void) {
                result.find("co") != result.end());
 }
 
+void
+LocaleTest::TestCreateUnicodeKeywordSetEmpty(void) {
+    IcuTestErrorCode status(*this, "TestCreateUnicodeKeywordSetEmpty()");
+
+    static const Locale l("de");
+
+    std::set<std::string> result;
+    l.getUnicodeKeywords<std::string>(
+            std::insert_iterator<decltype(result)>(result, result.begin()),
+            status);
+    status.errIfFailureAndReset("\"%s\"", l.getName());
+
+    assertEquals("set::size()", 0, static_cast<int32_t>(result.size()));
+}
+
 void
 LocaleTest::TestGetKeywordValueStdString(void) {
     IcuTestErrorCode status(*this, "TestGetKeywordValueStdString()");
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/loctest.h b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/loctest.h
index 85da54fee5bf..2771419ffce5 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/loctest.h
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/loctest.h
@@ -79,7 +79,9 @@ class LocaleTest: public IntlTest {
    /* Test getting keyword values */
    void TestKeywordVariantParsing(void);
    void TestCreateKeywordSet(void);
+   void TestCreateKeywordSetEmpty(void);
    void TestCreateUnicodeKeywordSet(void);
+   void TestCreateUnicodeKeywordSetEmpty(void);
    void TestGetKeywordValueStdString(void);
    void TestGetUnicodeKeywordValueStdString(void);