diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
index 7697aa1a9ac..abfa184daf0 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/ncurses/default.nix
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   # the place we want to put *.pc files from other packages anyway. So we must
   # tell it explicitly where to install with PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR.
   preConfigure = ''
+    export configureFlags="$configureFlags --includedir=$out/include"
     export PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR="$out/lib/pkgconfig"
     mkdir -p "$PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR"
   '' + lib.optionalString stdenv.isCygwin ''