diff --git a/Eigen/src/Core/MatrixBase.h b/Eigen/src/Core/MatrixBase.h
index 7935a7554..b0b189511 100644
--- a/Eigen/src/Core/MatrixBase.h
+++ b/Eigen/src/Core/MatrixBase.h
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ template<typename Derived> class MatrixBase
     inline int size() const { return rows() * cols(); }
     /** \returns the number of nonzero coefficients which is in practice the number
       * of stored coefficients. */
-    inline int nonZeros() const { return derived.nonZeros(); }
+    inline int nonZeros() const { return size(); }
     /** \returns true if either the number of rows or the number of columns is equal to 1.
       * In other words, this function returns
       * \code rows()==1 || cols()==1 \endcode