diff --git a/lib/rule-tester/rule-tester.js b/lib/rule-tester/rule-tester.js
index 9f5576fa452..2f8bc6d2601 100644
--- a/lib/rule-tester/rule-tester.js
+++ b/lib/rule-tester/rule-tester.js
@@ -655,6 +655,11 @@ class RuleTester {
             const messages = result.messages;
 
             if (typeof item.errors === "number") {
+
+                if (item.errors === 0) {
+                    assert.fail("errors of type `number` should not have value `0`");
+                }
+
                 assert.strictEqual(messages.length, item.errors, util.format("Should have %d error%s but had %d: %s",
                     item.errors, item.errors === 1 ? "" : "s", messages.length, util.inspect(messages)));
             } else {
diff --git a/tests/lib/rule-tester/rule-tester.js b/tests/lib/rule-tester/rule-tester.js
index 8bcda24aa17..f3d8932fb4e 100644
--- a/tests/lib/rule-tester/rule-tester.js
+++ b/tests/lib/rule-tester/rule-tester.js
@@ -475,6 +475,25 @@ describe("RuleTester", () => {
         }, /errors array should have at least one element otherwise its a valid case/u);
     });
 
+    it("should throw error for errors : 0", () => {
+        assert.throws(() => {
+            ruleTester.run(
+                "suggestions-messageIds",
+                require("../../fixtures/testers/rule-tester/suggestions")
+                    .withMessageIds,
+                {
+                    valid: [],
+                    invalid: [
+                        {
+                            code: "var foo;",
+                            errors: 0
+                        }
+                    ]
+                }
+            );
+        }, /errors of type `number` should not have value `0`/u);
+    });
+
     it("should not skip column assertion if column is a falsy value", () => {
         assert.throws(() => {
             ruleTester.run("no-eval", require("../../fixtures/testers/rule-tester/no-eval"), {