diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
index 371d7838fb6..3cac340f323 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
@@ -6438,9 +6438,13 @@ local0.*    /var/log/postgresql
          right with spaces to give it a minimum width, whereas a positive
          value will pad on the left. Padding can be useful to aid human
          readability in log files.
+       </para>
+
+       <para>
          This parameter can only be set in the <filename>postgresql.conf</filename>
          file or on the server command line. The default is
          <literal>'%m [%p] '</literal> which logs a time stamp and the process ID.
+       </para>
 
          <informaltable>
           <tgroup cols="3">
@@ -6477,6 +6481,11 @@ local0.*    /var/log/postgresql
              <entry>Remote host name or IP address</entry>
              <entry>yes</entry>
             </row>
+            <row>
+             <entry><literal>%b</literal></entry>
+             <entry>Backend type</entry>
+             <entry>no</entry>
+            </row>
             <row>
              <entry><literal>%p</literal></entry>
              <entry>Process ID</entry>
@@ -6548,6 +6557,14 @@ local0.*    /var/log/postgresql
           </tgroup>
          </informaltable>
 
+         <para>
+          The backend type corresponds to the column
+          <structfield>backend_type</structfield> in the view <xref
+          linkend="pg-stat-activity-view"/>, but additional types can appear
+          in the log that don't show in that view.
+         </para>
+
+         <para>
          The <literal>%c</literal> escape prints a quasi-unique session identifier,
          consisting of two 4-byte hexadecimal numbers (without leading zeros)
          separated by a dot.  The numbers are the process start time and the
@@ -6772,7 +6789,7 @@ log_line_prefix = '%m [%p] %q%u@%d/%a '
         character count of the error position therein,
         location of the error in the PostgreSQL source code
         (if <varname>log_error_verbosity</varname> is set to <literal>verbose</literal>),
-        and application name.
+        application name, and backend type.
         Here is a sample table definition for storing CSV-format log output:
 
 <programlisting>
@@ -6801,6 +6818,7 @@ CREATE TABLE postgres_log
   query_pos integer,
   location text,
   application_name text,
+  backend_type text,
   PRIMARY KEY (session_id, session_line_num)
 );
 </programlisting>
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c b/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c
index f8ae94729cc..62eef7b71f4 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@
 #include "libpq/pqformat.h"
 #include "mb/pg_wchar.h"
 #include "miscadmin.h"
+#include "postmaster/bgworker.h"
 #include "postmaster/postmaster.h"
 #include "postmaster/syslogger.h"
 #include "storage/ipc.h"
@@ -2492,6 +2493,23 @@ log_line_prefix(StringInfo buf, ErrorData *edata)
 										   padding > 0 ? padding : -padding);
 
 				break;
+			case 'b':
+				{
+					const char *backend_type_str;
+
+					if (MyProcPid == PostmasterPid)
+						backend_type_str = "postmaster";
+					else if (MyBackendType == B_BG_WORKER)
+						backend_type_str = MyBgworkerEntry->bgw_type;
+					else
+						backend_type_str = GetBackendTypeDesc(MyBackendType);
+
+					if (padding != 0)
+						appendStringInfo(buf, "%*s", padding, backend_type_str);
+					else
+						appendStringInfoString(buf, backend_type_str);
+					break;
+				}
 			case 'u':
 				if (MyProcPort)
 				{
@@ -2920,6 +2938,16 @@ write_csvlog(ErrorData *edata)
 	if (application_name)
 		appendCSVLiteral(&buf, application_name);
 
+	appendStringInfoChar(&buf, ',');
+
+	/* backend type */
+	if (MyProcPid == PostmasterPid)
+		appendCSVLiteral(&buf, "postmaster");
+	else if (MyBackendType == B_BG_WORKER)
+		appendCSVLiteral(&buf, MyBgworkerEntry->bgw_type);
+	else
+		appendCSVLiteral(&buf, GetBackendTypeDesc(MyBackendType));
+
 	appendStringInfoChar(&buf, '\n');
 
 	/* If in the syslogger process, try to write messages direct to file */
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/misc/postgresql.conf.sample b/src/backend/utils/misc/postgresql.conf.sample
index e58e4788a8e..aa44f0c9bf2 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/misc/postgresql.conf.sample
+++ b/src/backend/utils/misc/postgresql.conf.sample
@@ -528,6 +528,7 @@
 					#   %d = database name
 					#   %r = remote host and port
 					#   %h = remote host
+					#   %b = backend type
 					#   %p = process ID
 					#   %t = timestamp without milliseconds
 					#   %m = timestamp with milliseconds
diff --git a/src/test/regress/pg_regress.c b/src/test/regress/pg_regress.c
index a53e4a6243b..f6a5e1b9c76 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/pg_regress.c
+++ b/src/test/regress/pg_regress.c
@@ -2334,7 +2334,7 @@ regression_main(int argc, char *argv[], init_function ifunc, test_function tfunc
 		fputs("\n# Configuration added by pg_regress\n\n", pg_conf);
 		fputs("log_autovacuum_min_duration = 0\n", pg_conf);
 		fputs("log_checkpoints = on\n", pg_conf);
-		fputs("log_line_prefix = '%m [%p] %q%a '\n", pg_conf);
+		fputs("log_line_prefix = '%m %b[%p] %q%a '\n", pg_conf);
 		fputs("log_lock_waits = on\n", pg_conf);
 		fputs("log_temp_files = 128kB\n", pg_conf);
 		fputs("max_prepared_transactions = 2\n", pg_conf);