diff --git a/interpreter.py b/interpreter.py
index 1ca1713c1..d01ebc00d 100644
--- a/interpreter.py
+++ b/interpreter.py
@@ -301,9 +301,10 @@ class Headers(InterpreterObject):
         return self.custom_install_dir
 
 class Data(InterpreterObject):
-    def __init__(self, subdir, sources, kwargs):
+    def __init__(self, source_subdir, subdir, sources, kwargs):
         InterpreterObject.__init__(self)
-        self.subdir = subdir
+        self.source_subdir = source_subdir
+        self.install_subdir = subdir
         self.sources = sources
         kwsource = kwargs.get('sources', [])
         if not isinstance(kwsource, list):
@@ -313,8 +314,11 @@ class Data(InterpreterObject):
         if self.custom_install_dir is not None and not isinstance(self.custom_install_dir, str):
             raise InterpreterException('Custom_install_dir must be a string.')
 
-    def get_subdir(self):
-        return self.subdir
+    def get_install_subdir(self):
+        return self.install_subdir
+
+    def get_source_subdir(self):
+        return self.source_subdir
 
     def get_sources(self):
         return self.sources
@@ -1210,7 +1214,7 @@ class Interpreter():
         for a in args:
             if not isinstance(a, str):
                 raise InvalidArguments('Argument %s is not a string.' % str(a))
-        data = Data(args[0], args[1:], kwargs)
+        data = Data(self.subdir, args[0], args[1:], kwargs)
         self.build.data.append(data)
         return data
 
diff --git a/ninjabackend.py b/ninjabackend.py
index 178e371e6..398b0efdf 100644
--- a/ninjabackend.py
+++ b/ninjabackend.py
@@ -459,9 +459,9 @@ class NinjaBackend(backends.Backend):
         for de in data:
             subdir = de.get_custom_install_dir()
             if subdir is None:
-                subdir = os.path.join(dataroot, de.get_subdir())
+                subdir = os.path.join(dataroot, de.get_install_subdir())
             for f in de.get_sources():
-                srcabs = os.path.join(self.environment.get_source_dir(), f)
+                srcabs = os.path.join(self.environment.get_source_dir(), de.get_source_subdir(), f)
                 dstabs = os.path.join(subdir, f)
                 i = [srcabs, dstabs]
                 d.data.append(i)
diff --git a/test cases/common/12 data/installed_files.txt b/test cases/common/12 data/installed_files.txt
index 362b7ce97..8d7ff7073 100644
--- a/test cases/common/12 data/installed_files.txt	
+++ b/test cases/common/12 data/installed_files.txt	
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 share/progname/datafile.dat
+share/progname/vanishing.dat
diff --git a/test cases/common/12 data/meson.build b/test cases/common/12 data/meson.build
index ea9cfd73e..850704624 100644
--- a/test cases/common/12 data/meson.build	
+++ b/test cases/common/12 data/meson.build	
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 project('data install test', 'c')
 install_data('progname', sources : 'datafile.dat')
+subdir('vanishing')
diff --git a/test cases/common/12 data/vanishing/meson.build b/test cases/common/12 data/vanishing/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d2283e701
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/common/12 data/vanishing/meson.build	
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+install_data('progname', sources : 'vanishing.dat')
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test cases/common/12 data/vanishing/vanishing.dat b/test cases/common/12 data/vanishing/vanishing.dat
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b7d06090e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test cases/common/12 data/vanishing/vanishing.dat	
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+This is a data file to be installed in a subdirectory.