diff --git a/wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php b/wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php
index a94832ad7e..2fed794352 100644
--- a/wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php
+++ b/wp-admin/includes/meta-boxes.php
@@ -519,12 +519,15 @@ function post_revisions_meta_box($post) {
 function page_attributes_meta_box($post) {
 	$post_type_object = get_post_type_object($post->post_type);
 	if ( $post_type_object->hierarchical ) {
+		$pages = wp_dropdown_pages(array('post_type' => $post->post_type, 'exclude_tree' => $post->ID, 'selected' => $post->post_parent, 'name' => 'parent_id', 'show_option_none' => __('Main Page (no parent)'), 'sort_column'=> 'menu_order, post_title', 'echo' => 0));
+		if ( ! empty($pages) ) {
 ?>
 <h5><?php _e('Parent') ?></h5>
 <label class="screen-reader-text" for="parent_id"><?php _e('Page Parent') ?></label>
-<?php wp_dropdown_pages(array('post_type' => $post->post_type, 'exclude_tree' => $post->ID, 'selected' => $post->post_parent, 'name' => 'parent_id', 'show_option_none' => __('Main Page (no parent)'), 'sort_column'=> 'menu_order, post_title')); ?>
+<?php echo $pages; ?>
 <p><?php _e('You can arrange your pages in hierarchies. For example, you could have an &#8220;About&#8221; page that has &#8220;Life Story&#8221; and &#8220;My Dog&#8221; pages under it. There are no limits to how deeply nested you can make pages.'); ?></p>
 <?php
+		} // end empty pages check
 	} // end hierarchical check.
 	if ( 0 != count( get_page_templates() ) ) {
 		$template = !empty($post->page_template) ? $post->page_template : false;