diff --git a/app/test/test_mempool.c b/app/test/test_mempool.c
index 4ec236d239..0962bf06cf 100644
--- a/app/test/test_mempool.c
+++ b/app/test/test_mempool.c
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ test_mempool_basic(struct rte_mempool *mp, int use_external_cache)
 
 	printf("get private data\n");
 	if (rte_mempool_get_priv(mp) != (char *)mp +
-			MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE(mp, mp->cache_size))
+			RTE_MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE(mp, mp->cache_size))
 		GOTO_ERR(ret, out);
 
 #ifndef RTE_EXEC_ENV_FREEBSD /* rte_mem_virt2iova() not supported on bsd */
diff --git a/doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst b/doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst
index 45239ca56e..bc3aca8ef1 100644
--- a/doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/rel_notes/deprecation.rst
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ Deprecation Notices
   ``__atomic_thread_fence`` must be used for patches that need to be merged in
   20.08 onwards. This change will not introduce any performance degradation.
 
+* mempool: Helper macro ``MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE()`` is deprecated and will
+  be removed in DPDK 22.11. The replacement macro
+  ``RTE_MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE()`` is internal only.
+
 * mbuf: The mbuf offload flags ``PKT_*`` will be renamed as ``RTE_MBUF_F_*``.
   A compatibility layer will be kept until DPDK 22.11, except for the flags
   that are already deprecated (``PKT_RX_L4_CKSUM_BAD``, ``PKT_RX_IP_CKSUM_BAD``,
diff --git a/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_21_11.rst b/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_21_11.rst
index 7db4cb38c0..5f780bbf9f 100644
--- a/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_21_11.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_21_11.rst
@@ -233,6 +233,9 @@ API Changes
 * mempool: The mempool flags ``MEMPOOL_F_*`` will be deprecated in the future.
   Newly added flags with ``RTE_MEMPOOL_F_`` prefix should be used instead.
 
+* mempool: Helper macro ``MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE()`` is deprecated.
+  The replacement macro ``RTE_MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE()`` is internal only.
+
 * net: Renamed ``s_addr`` and ``d_addr`` fields of ``rte_ether_hdr`` structure
   to ``src_addr`` and ``dst_addr``, respectively.
 
diff --git a/lib/mempool/rte_mempool.c b/lib/mempool/rte_mempool.c
index 4bb851f79b..c988ebd87a 100644
--- a/lib/mempool/rte_mempool.c
+++ b/lib/mempool/rte_mempool.c
@@ -888,7 +888,7 @@ rte_mempool_create_empty(const char *name, unsigned n, unsigned elt_size,
 		goto exit_unlock;
 	}
 
-	mempool_size = MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE(mp, cache_size);
+	mempool_size = RTE_MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE(mp, cache_size);
 	mempool_size += private_data_size;
 	mempool_size = RTE_ALIGN_CEIL(mempool_size, RTE_MEMPOOL_ALIGN);
 
@@ -904,7 +904,7 @@ rte_mempool_create_empty(const char *name, unsigned n, unsigned elt_size,
 
 	/* init the mempool structure */
 	mp = mz->addr;
-	memset(mp, 0, MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE(mp, cache_size));
+	memset(mp, 0, RTE_MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE(mp, cache_size));
 	ret = strlcpy(mp->name, name, sizeof(mp->name));
 	if (ret < 0 || ret >= (int)sizeof(mp->name)) {
 		rte_errno = ENAMETOOLONG;
@@ -928,7 +928,7 @@ rte_mempool_create_empty(const char *name, unsigned n, unsigned elt_size,
 	 * The local_cache points to just past the elt_pa[] array.
 	 */
 	mp->local_cache = (struct rte_mempool_cache *)
-		RTE_PTR_ADD(mp, MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE(mp, 0));
+		RTE_PTR_ADD(mp, RTE_MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE(mp, 0));
 
 	/* Init all default caches. */
 	if (cache_size != 0) {
diff --git a/lib/mempool/rte_mempool.h b/lib/mempool/rte_mempool.h
index 2657417edc..81646ee35d 100644
--- a/lib/mempool/rte_mempool.h
+++ b/lib/mempool/rte_mempool.h
@@ -312,17 +312,21 @@ struct rte_mempool {
 #endif
 
 /**
- * Calculate the size of the mempool header.
+ * @internal Calculate the size of the mempool header.
  *
  * @param mp
  *   Pointer to the memory pool.
  * @param cs
  *   Size of the per-lcore cache.
  */
-#define MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE(mp, cs) \
+#define RTE_MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE(mp, cs) \
 	(sizeof(*(mp)) + (((cs) == 0) ? 0 : \
 	(sizeof(struct rte_mempool_cache) * RTE_MAX_LCORE)))
 
+/** Deprecated. Use RTE_MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE() for internal purposes only. */
+#define MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE(mp, cs) \
+	RTE_DEPRECATED(MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE) RTE_MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE(mp, cs)
+
 /* return the header of a mempool object (internal) */
 static inline struct rte_mempool_objhdr *
 rte_mempool_get_header(void *obj)
@@ -1739,7 +1743,7 @@ void rte_mempool_audit(struct rte_mempool *mp);
 static inline void *rte_mempool_get_priv(struct rte_mempool *mp)
 {
 	return (char *)mp +
-		MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE(mp, mp->cache_size);
+		RTE_MEMPOOL_HEADER_SIZE(mp, mp->cache_size);
 }
 
 /**
