diff --git a/index/scorch/scorch.go b/index/scorch/scorch.go
index 2b5408514..fdfde0989 100644
--- a/index/scorch/scorch.go
+++ b/index/scorch/scorch.go
@@ -658,6 +658,17 @@ func (s *Scorch) StatsMap() map[string]interface{} {
 	m["num_persister_nap_merger_break"] = m["TotPersisterMergerNapBreak"]
 	m["total_compaction_written_bytes"] = m["TotFileMergeWrittenBytes"]
 
+	// the bool stat `index_bgthreads_active` indicates whether the background routines
+	// (which are responsible for the index to attain a steady state) are still
+	// doing some work.
+	if rootEpoch, ok := m["CurRootEpoch"].(uint64); ok {
+		if lastMergedEpoch, ok := m["LastMergedEpoch"].(uint64); ok {
+			if lastPersistedEpoch, ok := m["LastPersistedEpoch"].(uint64); ok {
+				m["index_bgthreads_active"] = !(lastMergedEpoch == rootEpoch && lastPersistedEpoch == rootEpoch)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	// calculate the aggregate of all the segment's field stats
 	aggFieldStats := newFieldStats()
 	for _, segmentSnapshot := range indexSnapshot.Segments() {