diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_parquet.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_parquet.cc
index 1f8b6cc4882cf..ca391b4354c07 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_parquet.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_parquet.cc
@@ -366,8 +366,12 @@ std::optional<compute::Expression> ParquetFileFragment::EvaluateStatisticsAsExpr
     const parquet::Statistics& statistics) {
   auto field_expr = compute::field_ref(field_ref);
 
+  bool may_have_null = !statistics.HasNullCount() || statistics.null_count() > 0;
   // Optimize for corner case where all values are nulls
-  if (statistics.num_values() == 0 && statistics.null_count() > 0) {
+  if (statistics.num_values() == 0) {
+    // If there are no non-null values, column `field_ref` in the fragment
+    // might be empty or all values are nulls. In this case, we also return
+    // a null expression.
     return is_null(std::move(field_expr));
   }
 
@@ -378,7 +382,6 @@ std::optional<compute::Expression> ParquetFileFragment::EvaluateStatisticsAsExpr
 
   auto maybe_min = Cast(min, field.type());
   auto maybe_max = Cast(max, field.type());
-
   if (maybe_min.ok() && maybe_max.ok()) {
     min = maybe_min.MoveValueUnsafe().scalar();
     max = maybe_max.MoveValueUnsafe().scalar();
@@ -386,7 +389,7 @@ std::optional<compute::Expression> ParquetFileFragment::EvaluateStatisticsAsExpr
     if (min->Equals(*max)) {
       auto single_value = compute::equal(field_expr, compute::literal(std::move(min)));
 
-      if (statistics.null_count() == 0) {
+      if (!may_have_null) {
         return single_value;
       }
       return compute::or_(std::move(single_value), is_null(std::move(field_expr)));
@@ -412,9 +415,8 @@ std::optional<compute::Expression> ParquetFileFragment::EvaluateStatisticsAsExpr
     } else {
       in_range = compute::and_(std::move(lower_bound), std::move(upper_bound));
     }
-
-    if (statistics.null_count() != 0) {
-      return compute::or_(std::move(in_range), compute::is_null(field_expr));
+    if (may_have_null) {
+      return compute::or_(std::move(in_range), compute::is_null(std::move(field_expr)));
     }
     return in_range;
   }
@@ -423,7 +425,7 @@ std::optional<compute::Expression> ParquetFileFragment::EvaluateStatisticsAsExpr
 
 std::optional<compute::Expression> ParquetFileFragment::EvaluateStatisticsAsExpression(
     const Field& field, const parquet::Statistics& statistics) {
-  const auto field_name = field.name();
+  auto field_name = field.name();
   return EvaluateStatisticsAsExpression(field, FieldRef(std::move(field_name)),
                                         statistics);
 }
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_parquet_test.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_parquet_test.cc
index bf626826d4d1b..2c05dcd9be459 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_parquet_test.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_parquet_test.cc
@@ -841,6 +841,56 @@ TEST(TestParquetStatistics, NullMax) {
   EXPECT_EQ(stat_expression->ToString(), "(x >= 1)");
 }
 
+TEST(TestParquetStatistics, NoNullCount) {
+  auto field = ::arrow::field("x", int32());
+  auto parquet_node_ptr = ::parquet::schema::Int32("x", ::parquet::Repetition::REQUIRED);
+  ::parquet::ColumnDescriptor descr(parquet_node_ptr, /*max_definition_level=*/1,
+                                    /*max_repetition_level=*/0);
+
+  auto int32_to_parquet_stats = [](int32_t v) {
+    std::string value;
+    value.resize(sizeof(int32_t));
+    memcpy(value.data(), &v, sizeof(int32_t));
+    return value;
+  };
+  {
+    // Base case: when null_count is not set, the expression might contain null
+    ::parquet::EncodedStatistics encoded_stats;
+    encoded_stats.set_min(int32_to_parquet_stats(1));
+    encoded_stats.set_max(int32_to_parquet_stats(100));
+    encoded_stats.has_null_count = false;
+    encoded_stats.all_null_value = false;
+    encoded_stats.null_count = 0;
+    auto stats = ::parquet::Statistics::Make(&descr, &encoded_stats, /*num_values=*/10);
+
+    auto stat_expression =
+        ParquetFileFragment::EvaluateStatisticsAsExpression(*field, *stats);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(stat_expression.has_value());
+    EXPECT_EQ(stat_expression->ToString(),
+              "(((x >= 1) and (x <= 100)) or is_null(x, {nan_is_null=false}))");
+  }
+  {
+    // Special case: when num_value is 0, it would return
+    // "is_null".
+    ::parquet::EncodedStatistics encoded_stats;
+    encoded_stats.has_null_count = true;
+    encoded_stats.null_count = 1;
+    encoded_stats.all_null_value = true;
+    auto stats = ::parquet::Statistics::Make(&descr, &encoded_stats, /*num_values=*/0);
+    auto stat_expression =
+        ParquetFileFragment::EvaluateStatisticsAsExpression(*field, *stats);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(stat_expression.has_value());
+    EXPECT_EQ(stat_expression->ToString(), "is_null(x, {nan_is_null=false})");
+
+    encoded_stats.has_null_count = false;
+    encoded_stats.all_null_value = false;
+    stats = ::parquet::Statistics::Make(&descr, &encoded_stats, /*num_values=*/0);
+    stat_expression = ParquetFileFragment::EvaluateStatisticsAsExpression(*field, *stats);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(stat_expression.has_value());
+    EXPECT_EQ(stat_expression->ToString(), "is_null(x, {nan_is_null=false})");
+  }
+}
+
 class DelayedBufferReader : public ::arrow::io::BufferReader {
  public:
   explicit DelayedBufferReader(const std::shared_ptr<::arrow::Buffer>& buffer)