diff --git a/controllers/nginx/pkg/config/config.go b/controllers/nginx/pkg/config/config.go
index 68d6af068..d4121e35b 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/controllers/nginx/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -422,6 +422,7 @@ func NewDefault() Configuration {
 		WorkerShutdownTimeout:      "10s",
 		LoadBalanceAlgorithm:       defaultLoadBalancerAlgorithm,
 		VtsStatusZoneSize:          "10m",
+		VtsDefaultFilterKey:        "$geoip_country_code country::*",
 		VariablesHashBucketSize:    64,
 		VariablesHashMaxSize:       2048,
 		UseHTTP2:                   true,
diff --git a/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl b/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl
index a878d2c5c..cfa721acd 100644
--- a/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl
+++ b/controllers/nginx/rootfs/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ http {
 
     {{ if $cfg.EnableVtsStatus }}
     vhost_traffic_status_zone shared:vhost_traffic_status:{{ $cfg.VtsStatusZoneSize }};
-    vhost_traffic_status_filter_by_set_key {{ if not $cfg.VtsDefaultFilterKey }}$geoip_country_code country::*{{ else }} {{ $cfg.VtsDefaultFilterKey }}{{ end }};
+    vhost_traffic_status_filter_by_set_key {{ $cfg.VtsDefaultFilterKey }};
     {{ end }}
 
     sendfile            on;