diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_parquet.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_parquet.cc
index 0ce08502921..0b08fa7c77b 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_parquet.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_parquet.cc
@@ -820,7 +820,11 @@ Status ParquetFileFragment::SetMetadata(
   manifest_ = std::move(manifest);
 
   statistics_expressions_.resize(row_groups_->size(), compute::literal(true));
-  statistics_expressions_complete_.resize(manifest_->descr->num_columns(), false);
+  auto num_columns = manifest_->descr->num_columns();
+  if (num_columns < 0) {
+    return Status::Invalid("Problem with manifest: negative number of columns");
+  }
+  statistics_expressions_complete_.resize(num_columns, false);
 
   for (int row_group : *row_groups_) {
     // Ensure RowGroups are indexing valid RowGroups before augmenting.