diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst
index 0329a4d3fa9e..360914b4f346 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst
@@ -119,6 +119,21 @@ all zones are compacted such that free memory is available in contiguous
 blocks where possible. This can be important for example in the allocation of
 huge pages although processes will also directly compact memory as required.
 
+compaction_proactiveness
+========================
+
+This tunable takes a value in the range [0, 100] with a default value of
+20. This tunable determines how aggressively compaction is done in the
+background. Setting it to 0 disables proactive compaction.
+
+Note that compaction has a non-trivial system-wide impact as pages
+belonging to different processes are moved around, which could also lead
+to latency spikes in unsuspecting applications. The kernel employs
+various heuristics to avoid wasting CPU cycles if it detects that
+proactive compaction is not being effective.
+
+Be careful when setting it to extreme values like 100, as that may
+cause excessive background compaction activity.
 
 compact_unevictable_allowed
 ===========================
diff --git a/include/linux/compaction.h b/include/linux/compaction.h
index 4b898cdbdf05..ccd28978b296 100644
--- a/include/linux/compaction.h
+++ b/include/linux/compaction.h
@@ -85,11 +85,13 @@ static inline unsigned long compact_gap(unsigned int order)
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_COMPACTION
 extern int sysctl_compact_memory;
+extern int sysctl_compaction_proactiveness;
 extern int sysctl_compaction_handler(struct ctl_table *table, int write,
 			void __user *buffer, size_t *length, loff_t *ppos);
 extern int sysctl_extfrag_threshold;
 extern int sysctl_compact_unevictable_allowed;
 
+extern int extfrag_for_order(struct zone *zone, unsigned int order);
 extern int fragmentation_index(struct zone *zone, unsigned int order);
 extern enum compact_result try_to_compact_pages(gfp_t gfp_mask,
 		unsigned int order, unsigned int alloc_flags,
diff --git a/kernel/sysctl.c b/kernel/sysctl.c
index 8a176d8727a3..51c90906efbc 100644
--- a/kernel/sysctl.c
+++ b/kernel/sysctl.c
@@ -1458,6 +1458,15 @@ static struct ctl_table vm_table[] = {
 		.mode		= 0200,
 		.proc_handler	= sysctl_compaction_handler,
 	},
+	{
+		.procname	= "compaction_proactiveness",
+		.data		= &sysctl_compaction_proactiveness,
+		.maxlen		= sizeof(int),
+		.mode		= 0644,
+		.proc_handler	= proc_dointvec_minmax,
+		.extra1		= SYSCTL_ZERO,
+		.extra2		= &one_hundred,
+	},
 	{
 		.procname	= "extfrag_threshold",
 		.data		= &sysctl_extfrag_threshold,
diff --git a/mm/compaction.c b/mm/compaction.c
index 46f0fcc93081..822ff72817d5 100644
--- a/mm/compaction.c
+++ b/mm/compaction.c
@@ -50,6 +50,24 @@ static inline void count_compact_events(enum vm_event_item item, long delta)
 #define pageblock_start_pfn(pfn)	block_start_pfn(pfn, pageblock_order)
 #define pageblock_end_pfn(pfn)		block_end_pfn(pfn, pageblock_order)
 
+/*
+ * Fragmentation score check interval for proactive compaction purposes.
+ */
+static const int HPAGE_FRAG_CHECK_INTERVAL_MSEC = 500;
+
+/*
+ * Page order with-respect-to which proactive compaction
+ * calculates external fragmentation, which is used as
+ * the "fragmentation score" of a node/zone.
+ */
+#if defined HPAGE_PMD_ORDER
+#define COMPACTION_HPAGE_ORDER	HPAGE_PMD_ORDER
+#elif defined HUGETLB_PAGE_ORDER
+#define COMPACTION_HPAGE_ORDER	HUGETLB_PAGE_ORDER
+#else
+#define COMPACTION_HPAGE_ORDER	(PMD_SHIFT - PAGE_SHIFT)
+#endif
+
 static unsigned long release_freepages(struct list_head *freelist)
 {
 	struct page *page, *next;
@@ -1855,6 +1873,76 @@ static inline bool is_via_compact_memory(int order)
 	return order == -1;
 }
 
+static bool kswapd_is_running(pg_data_t *pgdat)
+{
+	return pgdat->kswapd && (pgdat->kswapd->state == TASK_RUNNING);
+}
+
+/*
+ * A zone's fragmentation score is the external fragmentation wrt to the
+ * COMPACTION_HPAGE_ORDER scaled by the zone's size. It returns a value
+ * in the range [0, 100].
+ *
+ * The scaling factor ensures that proactive compaction focuses on larger
+ * zones like ZONE_NORMAL, rather than smaller, specialized zones like
+ * ZONE_DMA32. For smaller zones, the score value remains close to zero,
+ * and thus never exceeds the high threshold for proactive compaction.
+ */
+static int fragmentation_score_zone(struct zone *zone)
+{
+	unsigned long score;
+
+	score = zone->present_pages *
+			extfrag_for_order(zone, COMPACTION_HPAGE_ORDER);
+	return div64_ul(score, zone->zone_pgdat->node_present_pages + 1);
+}
+
+/*
+ * The per-node proactive (background) compaction process is started by its
+ * corresponding kcompactd thread when the node's fragmentation score
+ * exceeds the high threshold. The compaction process remains active till
+ * the node's score falls below the low threshold, or one of the back-off
+ * conditions is met.
+ */
+static int fragmentation_score_node(pg_data_t *pgdat)
+{
+	unsigned long score = 0;
+	int zoneid;
+
+	for (zoneid = 0; zoneid < MAX_NR_ZONES; zoneid++) {
+		struct zone *zone;
+
+		zone = &pgdat->node_zones[zoneid];
+		score += fragmentation_score_zone(zone);
+	}
+
+	return score;
+}
+
+static int fragmentation_score_wmark(pg_data_t *pgdat, bool low)
+{
+	int wmark_low;
+
+	/*
+	 * Cap the low watermak to avoid excessive compaction
+	 * activity in case a user sets the proactivess tunable
+	 * close to 100 (maximum).
+	 */
+	wmark_low = max(100 - sysctl_compaction_proactiveness, 5);
+	return low ? wmark_low : min(wmark_low + 10, 100);
+}
+
+static bool should_proactive_compact_node(pg_data_t *pgdat)
+{
+	int wmark_high;
+
+	if (!sysctl_compaction_proactiveness || kswapd_is_running(pgdat))
+		return false;
+
+	wmark_high = fragmentation_score_wmark(pgdat, false);
+	return fragmentation_score_node(pgdat) > wmark_high;
+}
+
 static enum compact_result __compact_finished(struct compact_control *cc)
 {
 	unsigned int order;
@@ -1881,6 +1969,25 @@ static enum compact_result __compact_finished(struct compact_control *cc)
 			return COMPACT_PARTIAL_SKIPPED;
 	}
 
+	if (cc->proactive_compaction) {
+		int score, wmark_low;
+		pg_data_t *pgdat;
+
+		pgdat = cc->zone->zone_pgdat;
+		if (kswapd_is_running(pgdat))
+			return COMPACT_PARTIAL_SKIPPED;
+
+		score = fragmentation_score_zone(cc->zone);
+		wmark_low = fragmentation_score_wmark(pgdat, true);
+
+		if (score > wmark_low)
+			ret = COMPACT_CONTINUE;
+		else
+			ret = COMPACT_SUCCESS;
+
+		goto out;
+	}
+
 	if (is_via_compact_memory(cc->order))
 		return COMPACT_CONTINUE;
 
@@ -1939,6 +2046,7 @@ static enum compact_result __compact_finished(struct compact_control *cc)
 		}
 	}
 
+out:
 	if (cc->contended || fatal_signal_pending(current))
 		ret = COMPACT_CONTENDED;
 
@@ -2412,6 +2520,41 @@ enum compact_result try_to_compact_pages(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
 	return rc;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Compact all zones within a node till each zone's fragmentation score
+ * reaches within proactive compaction thresholds (as determined by the
+ * proactiveness tunable).
+ *
+ * It is possible that the function returns before reaching score targets
+ * due to various back-off conditions, such as, contention on per-node or
+ * per-zone locks.
+ */
+static void proactive_compact_node(pg_data_t *pgdat)
+{
+	int zoneid;
+	struct zone *zone;
+	struct compact_control cc = {
+		.order = -1,
+		.mode = MIGRATE_SYNC_LIGHT,
+		.ignore_skip_hint = true,
+		.whole_zone = true,
+		.gfp_mask = GFP_KERNEL,
+		.proactive_compaction = true,
+	};
+
+	for (zoneid = 0; zoneid < MAX_NR_ZONES; zoneid++) {
+		zone = &pgdat->node_zones[zoneid];
+		if (!populated_zone(zone))
+			continue;
+
+		cc.zone = zone;
+
+		compact_zone(&cc, NULL);
+
+		VM_BUG_ON(!list_empty(&cc.freepages));
+		VM_BUG_ON(!list_empty(&cc.migratepages));
+	}
+}
 
 /* Compact all zones within a node */
 static void compact_node(int nid)
@@ -2458,6 +2601,13 @@ static void compact_nodes(void)
 /* The written value is actually unused, all memory is compacted */
 int sysctl_compact_memory;
 
+/*
+ * Tunable for proactive compaction. It determines how
+ * aggressively the kernel should compact memory in the
+ * background. It takes values in the range [0, 100].
+ */
+int __read_mostly sysctl_compaction_proactiveness = 20;
+
 /*
  * This is the entry point for compacting all nodes via
  * /proc/sys/vm/compact_memory
@@ -2637,6 +2787,7 @@ static int kcompactd(void *p)
 {
 	pg_data_t *pgdat = (pg_data_t*)p;
 	struct task_struct *tsk = current;
+	unsigned int proactive_defer = 0;
 
 	const struct cpumask *cpumask = cpumask_of_node(pgdat->node_id);
 
@@ -2652,12 +2803,34 @@ static int kcompactd(void *p)
 		unsigned long pflags;
 
 		trace_mm_compaction_kcompactd_sleep(pgdat->node_id);
-		wait_event_freezable(pgdat->kcompactd_wait,
-				kcompactd_work_requested(pgdat));
+		if (wait_event_freezable_timeout(pgdat->kcompactd_wait,
+			kcompactd_work_requested(pgdat),
+			msecs_to_jiffies(HPAGE_FRAG_CHECK_INTERVAL_MSEC))) {
+
+			psi_memstall_enter(&pflags);
+			kcompactd_do_work(pgdat);
+			psi_memstall_leave(&pflags);
+			continue;
+		}
 
-		psi_memstall_enter(&pflags);
-		kcompactd_do_work(pgdat);
-		psi_memstall_leave(&pflags);
+		/* kcompactd wait timeout */
+		if (should_proactive_compact_node(pgdat)) {
+			unsigned int prev_score, score;
+
+			if (proactive_defer) {
+				proactive_defer--;
+				continue;
+			}
+			prev_score = fragmentation_score_node(pgdat);
+			proactive_compact_node(pgdat);
+			score = fragmentation_score_node(pgdat);
+			/*
+			 * Defer proactive compaction if the fragmentation
+			 * score did not go down i.e. no progress made.
+			 */
+			proactive_defer = score < prev_score ?
+					0 : 1 << COMPACT_MAX_DEFER_SHIFT;
+		}
 	}
 
 	return 0;
diff --git a/mm/internal.h b/mm/internal.h
index b5634e78f01d..9671bccd97d5 100644
--- a/mm/internal.h
+++ b/mm/internal.h
@@ -228,6 +228,7 @@ struct compact_control {
 	bool no_set_skip_hint;		/* Don't mark blocks for skipping */
 	bool ignore_block_suitable;	/* Scan blocks considered unsuitable */
 	bool direct_compaction;		/* False from kcompactd or /proc/... */
+	bool proactive_compaction;	/* kcompactd proactive compaction */
 	bool whole_zone;		/* Whole zone should/has been scanned */
 	bool contended;			/* Signal lock or sched contention */
 	bool rescan;			/* Rescanning the same pageblock */
diff --git a/mm/vmstat.c b/mm/vmstat.c
index 96d21a792b57..cc88f7533b8d 100644
--- a/mm/vmstat.c
+++ b/mm/vmstat.c
@@ -1074,6 +1074,24 @@ static int __fragmentation_index(unsigned int order, struct contig_page_info *in
 	return 1000 - div_u64( (1000+(div_u64(info->free_pages * 1000ULL, requested))), info->free_blocks_total);
 }
 
+/*
+ * Calculates external fragmentation within a zone wrt the given order.
+ * It is defined as the percentage of pages found in blocks of size
+ * less than 1 << order. It returns values in range [0, 100].
+ */
+int extfrag_for_order(struct zone *zone, unsigned int order)
+{
+	struct contig_page_info info;
+
+	fill_contig_page_info(zone, order, &info);
+	if (info.free_pages == 0)
+		return 0;
+
+	return div_u64((info.free_pages -
+			(info.free_blocks_suitable << order)) * 100,
+			info.free_pages);
+}
+
 /* Same as __fragmentation index but allocs contig_page_info on stack */
 int fragmentation_index(struct zone *zone, unsigned int order)
 {
