I have a postgresql database with a master table and 2 child tables. My master table; CREATE TABLE test_table ( id serial, date timestamp without time zone, PRIMARY KEY (id) ); CREATE INDEX ON test_table(date); My child tables; CREATE TABLE test_table_20150812 ( CHECK ( date >= DATE '2015-08-12' AND date < DATE '2015-08-13' ) ) INHERITS (test_table); CREATE TABLE test_table_20150811 ( CHECK ( date >= DATE '2015-08-11' AND date < DATE '2015-08-12' ) ) INHERITS (test_table); CREATE INDEX ON test_20150812(date); CREATE INDEX ON test_20150811(date); When I execute query like; select * from test_table_20150812 where date > '2015-08-12' order by date desc; It returns very quickly (20-30 miliseconds). However if I execute query like; select * from test_table where date > '2015-08-12' order by date desc; It takes a long time (10-15 seconds). Constraint_exclusion is set to ON in my postgresql.conf . Therefore it should only be executed on test_table_20150812. Explain result of two queries; Limit (cost=196687.06..196687.19 rows=50 width=212) -> Sort (cost=196687.06..203617.51 rows=2772180 width=212) Sort Key: public.test_table.date -> Result (cost=0.00..104597.24 rows=2772180 width=212) -> Append (cost=0.00..104597.24 rows=2772180 width=212) -> Seq Scan on test_table (cost=0.00..0.00 rows=1 width=1857) Filter: (date > '2015-08-12 00:00:00'::timestamp without time zone) -> Seq Scan on test_table_20150812 test_table (cost=0.00..104597.24 rows=2772179 width=212) Filter: (date > '2015-08-12 00:00:00'::timestamp without time zone) ------ Limit (cost=0.00..2.69 rows=50 width=212) -> Index Scan Backward using test_table_20150812_date_idx on test_table_20150812 (cost=0.00..149538.92 rows=2782286 width=212) Index Cond: (date > '2015-08-12 00:00:00'::timestamp without time zone) I see that, if a query is executed on master table, indices are never used. How can I improve it? I want to make all my queries on my master table. When querying for a specific date I expect no performance difference between querying on the master table or the child table.