diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/normalizer/SimpleRegionNormalizer.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/normalizer/SimpleRegionNormalizer.java
index 8d566f081fb4..d20ba70bfd83 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/normalizer/SimpleRegionNormalizer.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/normalizer/SimpleRegionNormalizer.java
@@ -63,7 +63,12 @@
 public class SimpleRegionNormalizer implements RegionNormalizer {
 
   private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(SimpleRegionNormalizer.class);
-  private static final int MIN_REGION_COUNT = 3;
+
+  public static final String HBASE_REGION_NORMALIZER_MIN_REGION_COUNT_KEY =
+      "hbase.normalizer.min.region.count";
+  public static final int HBASE_REGION_NORMALIZER_MIN_REGION_COUNT_DEFAULT = 3;
+
+  protected int minRegionCount;
   private MasterServices masterServices;
   private MasterRpcServices masterRpcServices;
   private static long[] skippedCount = new long[NormalizationPlan.PlanType.values().length];
@@ -75,6 +80,9 @@ public class SimpleRegionNormalizer implements RegionNormalizer {
   @Override
   public void setMasterServices(MasterServices masterServices) {
     this.masterServices = masterServices;
+    minRegionCount = masterServices.getConfiguration().getInt(
+        HBASE_REGION_NORMALIZER_MIN_REGION_COUNT_KEY,
+        HBASE_REGION_NORMALIZER_MIN_REGION_COUNT_DEFAULT);
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -148,14 +156,17 @@ public List<NormalizationPlan> computePlanForTable(TableName table) throws HBase
     List<RegionInfo> tableRegions = masterServices.getAssignmentManager().getRegionStates().
       getRegionsOfTable(table);
 
-    //TODO: should we make min number of regions a config param?
-    if (tableRegions == null || tableRegions.size() < MIN_REGION_COUNT) {
-      int nrRegions = tableRegions == null ? 0 : tableRegions.size();
-      LOG.debug("Table " + table + " has " + nrRegions + " regions, required min number"
-        + " of regions for normalizer to run is " + MIN_REGION_COUNT + ", not running normalizer");
+    if (tableRegions == null) {
       return null;
     }
 
+    if (tableRegions.size() < minRegionCount) {
+      LOG.debug("Table " + table + " has " + tableRegions.size() + " regions, required min number"
+          + " of regions for normalizer merging to run is " + minRegionCount
+          + ", not running normalizer merging");
+      mergeEnabled = false;
+    }
+
     LOG.debug("Computing normalization plan for table: " + table +
       ", number of regions: " + tableRegions.size());
 
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/normalizer/TestSimpleRegionNormalizer.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/normalizer/TestSimpleRegionNormalizer.java
index 743ec2be4854..fbc78ca040c5 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/normalizer/TestSimpleRegionNormalizer.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/normalizer/TestSimpleRegionNormalizer.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.master.normalizer;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 import static org.mockito.Matchers.any;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.RETURNS_DEEP_STUBS;
@@ -28,7 +29,10 @@
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseClassTestRule;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseConfiguration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseIOException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.RegionMetrics;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.ServerName;
@@ -476,6 +480,46 @@ public void testSplitWithTargetRegionSize() throws Exception {
     assertEquals(hri2, ((MergeNormalizationPlan) plan).getSecondRegion());
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testSplitIfTooFewRegions() throws HBaseIOException {
+    final TableName tableName = TableName.valueOf(name.getMethodName());
+    List<RegionInfo> RegionInfo = new ArrayList<>();
+    Map<byte[], Integer> regionSizes = new HashMap<>();
+
+    RegionInfo hri1 = RegionInfoBuilder.newBuilder(tableName)
+        .setStartKey(Bytes.toBytes("aaa"))
+        .setEndKey(Bytes.toBytes("bbb"))
+        .build();
+    RegionInfo.add(hri1);
+    regionSizes.put(hri1.getRegionName(), 1);
+
+    RegionInfo hri2 = RegionInfoBuilder.newBuilder(tableName)
+        .setStartKey(Bytes.toBytes("bbb"))
+        .setEndKey(Bytes.toBytes("ccc"))
+        .build();
+    RegionInfo.add(hri2);
+    regionSizes.put(hri2.getRegionName(), 1);
+    // the third region is huge one
+    RegionInfo hri3 = RegionInfoBuilder.newBuilder(tableName)
+        .setStartKey(Bytes.toBytes("ccc"))
+        .setEndKey(Bytes.toBytes("ddd"))
+        .build();
+    RegionInfo.add(hri3);
+    regionSizes.put(hri3.getRegionName(), 10);
+
+    setupMocksForNormalizer(regionSizes, RegionInfo);
+
+    Configuration configuration = HBaseConfiguration.create();
+    configuration.setInt(SimpleRegionNormalizer.HBASE_REGION_NORMALIZER_MIN_REGION_COUNT_KEY, 4);
+    when(masterServices.getConfiguration()).thenReturn(configuration);
+    normalizer.setMasterServices(masterServices);
+
+    List<NormalizationPlan> plans = normalizer.computePlanForTable(tableName);
+    assertNotNull(plans);
+    NormalizationPlan plan = plans.get(0);
+    assertEquals(hri3, ((SplitNormalizationPlan) plan).getRegionInfo());
+  }
+
   @SuppressWarnings("MockitoCast")
   protected void setupMocksForNormalizer(Map<byte[], Integer> regionSizes,
                                          List<RegionInfo> RegionInfo) {