diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 600d21ee8..1fb83b5c6 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -26,6 +26,13 @@ Unreleased
 - Fix: nested matches of exclude patterns could exclude too much code, as
   reported in `issue 1779`_.  This is now fixed.
 
+- Changed: previously, coverage.py would consider a module docstring to be an
+  executable statement if it appeared after line 1 in the file, but not
+  executable if it was the first line.  Now module docstrings are never counted
+  as executable statements.  This can change coverage.py's count of the number
+  of statements in a file, which can slightly change the coverage percentage
+  reported.
+
 - In the HTML report, the filter term and "hide covered" checkbox settings are
   remembered between viewings, thanks to `Daniel Diniz <pull 1776_>`_.
 
diff --git a/tests/test_parser.py b/tests/test_parser.py
index 0e208bbdb..bf3ccd28d 100644
--- a/tests/test_parser.py
+++ b/tests/test_parser.py
@@ -165,6 +165,20 @@ def bar(self):
         assert expected_arcs == parser.arcs()
         assert expected_exits == parser.exit_counts()
 
+    def test_module_docstrings(self) -> None:
+        parser = self.parse_text("""\
+            '''The docstring on line 1'''
+            a = 2
+            """)
+        assert {2} == parser.statements
+
+        parser = self.parse_text("""\
+            # Docstring is not line 1
+            '''The docstring on line 2'''
+            a = 3
+            """)
+        assert {3} == parser.statements
+
     def test_fuzzed_double_parse(self) -> None:
         # https://bugs.chromium.org/p/oss-fuzz/issues/detail?id=50381
         # The second parse used to raise `TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not iterable`
diff --git a/tests/test_report.py b/tests/test_report.py
index 37850cb20..fca027f9b 100644
--- a/tests/test_report.py
+++ b/tests/test_report.py
@@ -668,6 +668,34 @@ def not_covered(n):
         assert "not_covered.py       3      3   0.000000%" in report
         assert "TOTAL                3      3   0.000000%" in report
 
+    def test_report_module_docstrings(self) -> None:
+        self.make_file("main.py", """\
+            # Line 1
+            '''Line 2 docstring.'''
+            import other
+            a = 4
+            """)
+        self.make_file("other.py", """\
+            '''Line 1'''
+            a = 2
+            """)
+        cov = coverage.Coverage()
+        self.start_import_stop(cov, "main")
+        report = self.get_report(cov)
+
+        # Name       Stmts   Miss  Cover
+        # ------------------------------
+        # main.py        2      0   100%
+        # other.py       1      0   100%
+        # ------------------------------
+        # TOTAL          3      0   100%
+
+        assert self.line_count(report) == 6, report
+        squeezed = self.squeezed_lines(report)
+        assert squeezed[2] == "main.py 2 0 100%"
+        assert squeezed[3] == "other.py 1 0 100%"
+        assert squeezed[5] == "TOTAL 3 0 100%"
+
     def test_dotpy_not_python(self) -> None:
         # We run a .py file, and when reporting, we can't parse it as Python.
         # We should get an error message in the report.