diff --git a/Include/internal/pycore_gc.h b/Include/internal/pycore_gc.h
index a6519aa086309d..99fb7719ac3cbf 100644
--- a/Include/internal/pycore_gc.h
+++ b/Include/internal/pycore_gc.h
@@ -240,6 +240,7 @@ static inline void _PyObject_GC_TRACK(
 
     PyInterpreterState *interp = _PyInterpreterState_GET();
     PyGC_Head *generation0 = &interp->gc.young.head;
+    interp->gc.young.count++; /* number of tracked GC objects */
     PyGC_Head *last = (PyGC_Head*)(generation0->_gc_prev);
     _PyGCHead_SET_NEXT(last, gc);
     _PyGCHead_SET_PREV(gc, last);
@@ -280,6 +281,10 @@ static inline void _PyObject_GC_UNTRACK(
     _PyGCHead_SET_PREV(next, prev);
     gc->_gc_next = 0;
     gc->_gc_prev &= _PyGC_PREV_MASK_FINALIZED;
+    PyInterpreterState *interp = _PyInterpreterState_GET();
+    if (interp->gc.young.count > 0) {
+        interp->gc.young.count--;
+    }
 #endif
 }
 
diff --git a/Python/gc.c b/Python/gc.c
index 79c7476f4a9a74..ad4edcc27a8114 100644
--- a/Python/gc.c
+++ b/Python/gc.c
@@ -2296,7 +2296,6 @@ _PyObject_GC_Link(PyObject *op)
     GCState *gcstate = &tstate->interp->gc;
     gc->_gc_next = 0;
     gc->_gc_prev = 0;
-    gcstate->young.count++; /* number of allocated GC objects */
     gcstate->heap_size++;
     if (gcstate->young.count > gcstate->young.threshold &&
         gcstate->enabled &&
@@ -2428,9 +2427,6 @@ PyObject_GC_Del(void *op)
 #endif
     }
     GCState *gcstate = get_gc_state();
-    if (gcstate->young.count > 0) {
-        gcstate->young.count--;
-    }
     gcstate->heap_size--;
     PyObject_Free(((char *)op)-presize);
 }