diff --git a/django/db/backends/sqlite3/introspection.py b/django/db/backends/sqlite3/introspection.py
index 87894967fc..bcf11e1751 100644
--- a/django/db/backends/sqlite3/introspection.py
+++ b/django/db/backends/sqlite3/introspection.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from collections import namedtuple
 
 import sqlparse
 
+from django.db import DatabaseError
 from django.db.backends.base.introspection import (
     BaseDatabaseIntrospection, FieldInfo as BaseFieldInfo, TableInfo,
 )
@@ -84,6 +85,8 @@ class DatabaseIntrospection(BaseDatabaseIntrospection):
         """
         cursor.execute('PRAGMA table_info(%s)' % self.connection.ops.quote_name(table_name))
         table_info = cursor.fetchall()
+        if not table_info:
+            raise DatabaseError(f'Table {table_name} does not exist (empty pragma).')
         collations = self._get_column_collations(cursor, table_name)
         json_columns = set()
         if self.connection.features.can_introspect_json_field:
diff --git a/tests/schema/tests.py b/tests/schema/tests.py
index b8ad08239b..253483eb5e 100644
--- a/tests/schema/tests.py
+++ b/tests/schema/tests.py
@@ -119,9 +119,6 @@ class SchemaTests(TransactionTestCase):
         for name, (type, desc) in columns.items():
             if isinstance(type, tuple):
                 columns[name] = (type[0], desc)
-        # SQLite also doesn't error properly
-        if not columns:
-            raise DatabaseError("Table does not exist (empty pragma)")
         return columns
 
     def get_primary_key(self, table):