diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaProperties.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaProperties.java
index a62ecde2193..ffbc2c50a3c 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaProperties.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaProperties.java
@@ -906,7 +906,7 @@ public class KafkaProperties {
 		 * Whether the container should fail to start if at least one of the configured
 		 * topics are not present on the broker.
 		 */
-		private boolean missingTopicsFatal = true;
+		private boolean missingTopicsFatal = false;
 
 		public Type getType() {
 			return this.type;
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaAutoConfigurationTests.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaAutoConfigurationTests.java
index 51a979516de..08c5b121083 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaAutoConfigurationTests.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaAutoConfigurationTests.java
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ import org.apache.kafka.streams.StreamsConfig;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
 import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.AutoConfigurations;
-import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.kafka.KafkaProperties.Listener;
 import org.springframework.boot.test.context.runner.ApplicationContextRunner;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
 import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
@@ -370,7 +369,7 @@ class KafkaAutoConfigurationTests {
 						"spring.kafka.listener.no-poll-threshold=2.5", "spring.kafka.listener.type=batch",
 						"spring.kafka.listener.idle-event-interval=1s", "spring.kafka.listener.monitor-interval=45",
 						"spring.kafka.listener.log-container-config=true",
-						"spring.kafka.listener.missing-topics-fatal=false", "spring.kafka.jaas.enabled=true",
+						"spring.kafka.listener.missing-topics-fatal=true", "spring.kafka.jaas.enabled=true",
 						"spring.kafka.producer.transaction-id-prefix=foo", "spring.kafka.jaas.login-module=foo",
 						"spring.kafka.jaas.control-flag=REQUISITE", "spring.kafka.jaas.options.useKeyTab=true")
 				.run((context) -> {
@@ -395,7 +394,7 @@ class KafkaAutoConfigurationTests {
 					assertThat(containerProperties.getIdleEventInterval()).isEqualTo(1000L);
 					assertThat(containerProperties.getMonitorInterval()).isEqualTo(45);
 					assertThat(containerProperties.isLogContainerConfig()).isTrue();
-					assertThat(containerProperties.isMissingTopicsFatal()).isFalse();
+					assertThat(containerProperties.isMissingTopicsFatal()).isTrue();
 					assertThat(kafkaListenerContainerFactory).extracting("concurrency").isEqualTo(3);
 					assertThat(kafkaListenerContainerFactory.isBatchListener()).isTrue();
 					assertThat(context.getBeansOfType(KafkaJaasLoginModuleInitializer.class)).hasSize(1);
@@ -409,17 +408,6 @@ class KafkaAutoConfigurationTests {
 				});
 	}
 
-	@Test
-	void listenerPropertiesMatchDefaults() {
-		this.contextRunner.run((context) -> {
-			Listener listenerProperties = new KafkaProperties().getListener();
-			AbstractKafkaListenerContainerFactory<?, ?, ?> kafkaListenerContainerFactory = (AbstractKafkaListenerContainerFactory<?, ?, ?>) context
-					.getBean(KafkaListenerContainerFactory.class);
-			ContainerProperties containerProperties = kafkaListenerContainerFactory.getContainerProperties();
-			assertThat(containerProperties.isMissingTopicsFatal()).isEqualTo(listenerProperties.isMissingTopicsFatal());
-		});
-	}
-
 	@Test
 	void testKafkaTemplateRecordMessageConverters() {
 		this.contextRunner.withUserConfiguration(MessageConverterConfiguration.class)
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaPropertiesTests.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaPropertiesTests.java
index 5c2cbfb57f2..c2e7e7975b4 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaPropertiesTests.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/kafka/KafkaPropertiesTests.java
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ package org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.kafka;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
 import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.kafka.KafkaProperties.IsolationLevel;
+import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.kafka.KafkaProperties.Listener;
+import org.springframework.kafka.listener.ContainerProperties;
 
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
 
@@ -40,4 +42,11 @@ class KafkaPropertiesTests {
 		assertThat(original).hasSize(IsolationLevel.values().length);
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	void listenerDefaultValuesAreConsistent() {
+		ContainerProperties container = new ContainerProperties("test");
+		Listener listenerProperties = new KafkaProperties().getListener();
+		assertThat(listenerProperties.isMissingTopicsFatal()).isEqualTo(container.isMissingTopicsFatal());
+	}
+
 }