from pandas import DataFrame df = DataFrame({0: [np.nan, 2], 1: [np.nan, 3], 2: [np.nan, 4]}, dtype=object) df.mean(1) Expected: In [33]: df.mean(1) Out[33]: 0 NaN 1 3.0 Actual: In [31]: df.mean(1) Out[31]: 0 NaN 1 NaN