diff --git a/synapse/storage/registration.py b/synapse/storage/registration.py
index 54b0846c54bf17cf3f1c77bda622a735b31c4922..c0ca25733b0802a3cf8b46156e78614a620edd80 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/registration.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/registration.py
@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@ class RegistrationWorkerStore(SQLBaseStore):
 
         def _count_users(txn):
             txn.execute(
-                "SELECT COUNT(*) AS users FROM users where user_type is null or user_type = ''"
+                "SELECT COUNT(*) AS users FROM users where user_type is null"
             )
             rows = self.cursor_to_dict(txn)
             if rows: