diff --git a/intrpvar.h b/intrpvar.h
index f08de2f0d078..01ad73c88c91 100644
--- a/intrpvar.h
+++ b/intrpvar.h
@@ -752,7 +752,7 @@ PERLVARI(I, cur_locale_obj, locale_t, NULL)
 
 /* This is the most number of categories we've encountered so far on any
  * platform, doesn't include LC_ALL */
-PERLVARA(I, curlocales, 12, const char *)
+PERLVARA(I, curlocales, LOCALE_CATEGORIES_COUNT_, const char *)
 
 #endif
 #ifdef USE_PL_CUR_LC_ALL
diff --git a/perl.h b/perl.h
index 6d0eb93e803e..39e4f560b248 100644
--- a/perl.h
+++ b/perl.h
@@ -1248,6 +1248,9 @@ typedef enum {
 
 } locale_category_index;
 
+/* And a count of all the categories, mainly for use in array declarations */
+#  define LOCALE_CATEGORIES_COUNT_        LC_ALL_INDEX_
+
 #  if defined(USE_ITHREADS) && ! defined(NO_LOCALE_THREADS)
 #    define USE_LOCALE_THREADS
 #  endif