diff --git a/package/apr-util/Config.in b/package/apr-util/Config.in
index fcef693c7..6a7c00c21 100644
--- a/package/apr-util/Config.in
+++ b/package/apr-util/Config.in
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_APR_UTIL
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_NEON
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_NEON_ZLIB
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_ZLIB
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_EXPAT
 	# apr really needs shared library support
 	depends on !BR2_PREFER_STATIC_LIB
 	depends on BR2_USE_MMU # apr
diff --git a/package/apr-util/apr-util.mk b/package/apr-util/apr-util.mk
index bdb3004c5..c8c75a2a1 100644
--- a/package/apr-util/apr-util.mk
+++ b/package/apr-util/apr-util.mk
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ APR_UTIL_SITE = http://archive.apache.org/dist/apr
 APR_UTIL_LICENSE = Apache-2.0
 APR_UTIL_LICENSE_FILES = LICENSE
 APR_UTIL_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
-APR_UTIL_DEPENDENCIES = apr sqlite neon zlib
+APR_UTIL_DEPENDENCIES = apr expat sqlite neon zlib
 APR_UTIL_CONF_OPTS = \
 	--with-apr=$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/bin/apr-1-config
 APR_UTIL_CONFIG_SCRIPTS = apu-1-config