diff --git a/opentelemetry-api/setup.py b/opentelemetry-api/setup.py
index 3e2aa720558..85e65a1514e 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-api/setup.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-api/setup.py
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@
     include_package_data=True,
     long_description=open("README.rst").read(),
     install_requires=[
+        # contextvars backport
+        "contextvars; python_version>='3.5' and python_version<'3.7'",
         "typing; python_version<'3.5'",
     ],
     extras_require={},