diff --git a/core/include/clist.h b/core/include/clist.h
index 3b2d54e4c7..488c3ec041 100644
--- a/core/include/clist.h
+++ b/core/include/clist.h
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
  * clist_find_before()  | O(n)    | find node return node pointing to node
  * clist_remove()       | O(n)    | remove and return node
  * clist_sort()         | O(NlogN)| sort list (stable)
+ * clist_count()        | O(n)    | count the number of elements in a list
  *
  * clist can be used as a traditional list, a queue (FIFO) and a stack (LIFO) using
  * fast O(1) operations.
@@ -419,6 +420,27 @@ static inline void clist_sort(clist_node_t *list, clist_cmp_func_t cmp)
     }
 }
 
+/**
+ * @brief   Count the number of items in the given list
+ *
+ * @param[in]   list    ptr to the first element of the list
+ *
+ * @return  the number of elements in the given list
+ */
+static inline size_t clist_count(clist_node_t *list)
+{
+    clist_node_t *node = list->next;
+    size_t cnt = 0;
+    if (node) {
+        do {
+            node = node->next;
+            ++cnt;
+        } while (node != list->next);
+    }
+
+    return cnt;
+}
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/tests/unittests/tests-core/tests-core-clist.c b/tests/unittests/tests-core/tests-core-clist.c
index bbf5acd9cc..6701bed9a3 100644
--- a/tests/unittests/tests-core/tests-core-clist.c
+++ b/tests/unittests/tests-core/tests-core-clist.c
@@ -314,6 +314,23 @@ static void test_clist_sort(void)
     }
 }
 
+static void test_clist_count(void)
+{
+    size_t n = clist_count(&test_clist);
+    TEST_ASSERT(n == 0);
+
+    for (unsigned i = 1; i <= TEST_CLIST_LEN; i++) {
+        clist_rpush(&test_clist, &tests_clist_buf[i - 1]);
+        n = clist_count(&test_clist);
+        TEST_ASSERT(n == i);
+    }
+    for (unsigned i = TEST_CLIST_LEN; i > 0; i--) {
+        clist_lpop(&test_clist);
+        n = clist_count(&test_clist);
+        TEST_ASSERT(n == (i - 1));
+    }
+}
+
 Test *tests_core_clist_tests(void)
 {
     EMB_UNIT_TESTFIXTURES(fixtures) {
@@ -331,6 +348,7 @@ Test *tests_core_clist_tests(void)
         new_TestFixture(test_clist_foreach),
         new_TestFixture(test_clist_sort_empty),
         new_TestFixture(test_clist_sort),
+        new_TestFixture(test_clist_count),
     };
 
     EMB_UNIT_TESTCALLER(core_clist_tests, set_up, NULL,