diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index a018c342..d0d85b00 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ i18n = import('i18n')
 libsysprof_api_version = 3
 version_split = meson.project_version().split('.')
 datadir = get_option('datadir')
+datadir_for_pc_file = join_paths('${prefix}', datadir)
 podir = join_paths(meson.source_root(), 'po')
 
 glib_req_version = '>= 2.61.3'
diff --git a/src/libsysprof-capture/meson.build b/src/libsysprof-capture/meson.build
index e0d76c4d..8c499c79 100644
--- a/src/libsysprof-capture/meson.build
+++ b/src/libsysprof-capture/meson.build
@@ -64,4 +64,7 @@ pkgconfig.generate(
   description: 'The static capture library for tools that generate profiling capture data',
   install_dir: join_paths(get_option('libdir'), 'pkgconfig'),
      requires: [ 'glib-2.0' ],
+     variables: [
+       'datadir=' + datadir_for_pc_file,
+     ],
 )
diff --git a/src/libsysprof-ui/meson.build b/src/libsysprof-ui/meson.build
index 2fa44f09..52c91215 100644
--- a/src/libsysprof-ui/meson.build
+++ b/src/libsysprof-ui/meson.build
@@ -114,6 +114,9 @@ pkgconfig.generate(
   description: 'The UI library for GTK applications embedding sysprof',
   install_dir: join_paths(get_option('libdir'), 'pkgconfig'),
      requires: [ 'gio-2.0', 'gtk+-3.0' ],
+     variables: [
+       'datadir=' + datadir_for_pc_file,
+     ],
 )
 
 install_headers(libsysprof_ui_public_headers, subdir: sysprof_header_subdir)
diff --git a/src/libsysprof/meson.build b/src/libsysprof/meson.build
index 34499610..77c76c70 100644
--- a/src/libsysprof/meson.build
+++ b/src/libsysprof/meson.build
@@ -138,6 +138,9 @@ pkgconfig.generate(
   description: 'The library for console applications embedding sysprof',
   install_dir: join_paths(get_option('libdir'), 'pkgconfig'),
      requires: [ 'gio-2.0' ],
+     variables: [
+       'datadir=' + datadir_for_pc_file,
+     ],
 )
 
 install_headers(libsysprof_public_headers, subdir: sysprof_header_subdir)