diff --git a/cmake/build_helpers.cmake b/cmake/build_helpers.cmake
index f81312949..98f19a678 100644
--- a/cmake/build_helpers.cmake
+++ b/cmake/build_helpers.cmake
@@ -49,7 +49,12 @@ macro(findLibraries)
     endif()
 
     string(REPLACE "." ";" PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR_MINOR ${Python_VERSION})
-    list(REMOVE_AT PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR_MINOR 2)
+
+    list(LENGTH PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR_MINOR PYTHON_VERSION_COMPONENT_COUNT)
+
+    if (PYTHON_VERSION_COMPONENT_COUNT EQUAL 3)
+        list(REMOVE_AT PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR_MINOR 2)
+    endif ()
     list(JOIN PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR_MINOR "." PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR_MINOR)
 
     set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} ${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -DPYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR_MINOR=\"\\\"${PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR_MINOR}\"\\\"")