diff --git a/prometheus.go b/prometheus.go
index d7a1c27..76ef540 100644
--- a/prometheus.go
+++ b/prometheus.go
@@ -41,4 +41,16 @@ var (
 		Name:      "regions_total",
 		Help:      "Total number of regions in the cache",
 	})
+
+	retryBackoffDuration = promauto.NewHistogram(prometheus.HistogramOpts{
+		Namespace: "gohbase",
+		Subsystem: "retry",
+		Name:      "backoff_duration_seconds",
+		Help:      "Time spend sleeping in retry backoff",
+		// Buckets match the exact backoff time generated by the sleepAndIncreaseBackoff function
+		Buckets: []float64{
+			0.016, 0.032, 0.064, 0.128, 0.256, 0.512, 1.024, 2.048,
+			4.096, 8.192, 13.192, 18.192, 23.192, 28.192, 33.192,
+		},
+	})
 )
diff --git a/rpc.go b/rpc.go
index b96c822..ed25662 100644
--- a/rpc.go
+++ b/rpc.go
@@ -1004,6 +1004,11 @@ func sleepAndIncreaseBackoff(ctx context.Context, backoff time.Duration) (time.D
 		return 0, ctx.Err()
 	}
 
+	// Keep track of the amount of time spend sleeping in retry backoff. Ignore if context was
+	// canceled.
+	retryBackoffDuration.Observe(backoff.Seconds())
+
+	// When changing this formula, update the buckets of the retryBackoffDuration metric too.
 	if backoff < 5*time.Second {
 		return backoff * 2, nil
 	} else if backoff < 30*time.Second {