diff --git a/include/ndn-cpp/data.hpp b/include/ndn-cpp/data.hpp
index 0fe4c99..e918374 100644
--- a/include/ndn-cpp/data.hpp
+++ b/include/ndn-cpp/data.hpp
@@ -134,6 +134,11 @@
   Data(const Name& name);
   
   /**
+   * The virtual destructor.
+   */
+  virtual ~Data() {}
+  
+  /**
    * Encode this Data for a particular wire format. Also, set the wireEncoding field to the encoded result.
    * This is not const because it updates the wireEncoding.
    * @param wireFormat A WireFormat object used to encode the input. If omitted, use WireFormat getDefaultWireFormat().