diff --git a/package/python-babel/python-babel.mk b/package/python-babel/python-babel.mk
index 890a8b02b9..69c38c1a6e 100644
--- a/package/python-babel/python-babel.mk
+++ b/package/python-babel/python-babel.mk
@@ -12,5 +12,18 @@ PYTHON_BABEL_LICENSE = BSD-3-Clause
 PYTHON_BABEL_LICENSE_FILES = LICENSE
 HOST_PYTHON_BABEL_DEPENDENCIES = host-python-pytz
 
+# purge locale data (if enabled), keep special en_US_POSIX data which
+# is used by default by the python-babel code
+ifeq ($(BR2_ENABLE_LOCALE_PURGE),y)
+define PYTHON_BABEL_CLEANUP_LOCALE
+	for i in `ls $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/lib/python$(PYTHON3_VERSION_MAJOR)/site-packages/babel/locale-data/*.dat`; \
+	do \
+		i_base=`basename "$$i" .dat`; \
+		echo "$(BR2_ENABLE_LOCALE_WHITELIST) en_US_POSIX" | grep -qw "$$i_base" || rm "$$i"; \
+	done
+endef
+PYTHON_BABEL_TARGET_FINALIZE_HOOKS += PYTHON_BABEL_CLEANUP_LOCALE
+endif
+
 $(eval $(python-package))
 $(eval $(host-python-package))