diff --git a/astroid/exceptions.py b/astroid/exceptions.py
index 81d973031b..b8838023e4 100644
--- a/astroid/exceptions.py
+++ b/astroid/exceptions.py
@@ -272,6 +272,24 @@ def __init__(self, target: "nodes.NodeNG") -> None:
         super().__init__(message=f"Parent not found on {target!r}.")
 
 
+class StatementMissing(ParentMissingError):
+    """Raised when a call to node.statement() does not return a node. This is because
+    a node in the chain does not have a parent attribute and therefore does not
+    return a node for statement().
+
+    Standard attributes:
+        target: The node for which the parent lookup failed.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, target: "nodes.NodeNG") -> None:
+        # pylint: disable-next=bad-super-call
+        # https://github.com/PyCQA/pylint/issues/2903
+        # https://github.com/PyCQA/astroid/pull/1217#discussion_r744149027
+        super(ParentMissingError, self).__init__(
+            message=f"Statement not found on {target!r}"
+        )
+
+
 # Backwards-compatibility aliases
 OperationError = util.BadOperationMessage
 UnaryOperationError = util.BadUnaryOperationMessage
diff --git a/astroid/nodes/node_ng.py b/astroid/nodes/node_ng.py
index e6d0d50b1b..6fb242cd61 100644
--- a/astroid/nodes/node_ng.py
+++ b/astroid/nodes/node_ng.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import pprint
+import sys
 import typing
+import warnings
 from functools import singledispatch as _singledispatch
 from typing import (
     TYPE_CHECKING,
@@ -10,6 +12,7 @@
     Type,
     TypeVar,
     Union,
+    cast,
     overload,
 )
 
@@ -18,6 +21,7 @@
     AstroidError,
     InferenceError,
     ParentMissingError,
+    StatementMissing,
     UseInferenceDefault,
 )
 from astroid.manager import AstroidManager
@@ -27,6 +31,17 @@
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from astroid import nodes
 
+if sys.version_info >= (3, 6, 2):
+    from typing import NoReturn
+else:
+    from typing_extensions import NoReturn
+
+if sys.version_info >= (3, 8):
+    from typing import Literal
+else:
+    from typing_extensions import Literal
+
+
 # Types for 'NodeNG.nodes_of_class()'
 T_Nodes = TypeVar("T_Nodes", bound="NodeNG")
 T_Nodes2 = TypeVar("T_Nodes2", bound="NodeNG")
@@ -248,15 +263,41 @@ def parent_of(self, node):
                 return True
         return False
 
-    def statement(self):
+    @overload
+    def statement(
+        self, *, future: Literal[None] = ...
+    ) -> Union["nodes.Statement", "nodes.Module"]:
+        ...
+
+    @overload
+    def statement(self, *, future: Literal[True]) -> "nodes.Statement":
+        ...
+
+    def statement(
+        self, *, future: Literal[None, True] = None
+    ) -> Union["nodes.Statement", "nodes.Module", NoReturn]:
         """The first parent node, including self, marked as statement node.
 
-        :returns: The first parent statement.
-        :rtype: NodeNG
+        TODO: Deprecate the future parameter and only raise StatementMissing and return
+        nodes.Statement
+
+        :raises AttributeError: If self has no parent attribute
+        :raises StatementMissing: If self has no parent attribute and future is True
         """
         if self.is_statement:
-            return self
-        return self.parent.statement()
+            return cast("nodes.Statement", self)
+        if not self.parent:
+            if future:
+                raise StatementMissing(target=self)
+            warnings.warn(
+                "In astroid 3.0.0 NodeNG.statement() will return either a nodes.Statement "
+                "or raise a StatementMissing exception. AttributeError will no longer be raised. "
+                "This behaviour can already be triggered "
+                "by passing 'future=True' to a statement() call.",
+                DeprecationWarning,
+            )
+            raise AttributeError(f"{self} object has no attribute 'parent'")
+        return self.parent.statement(future=future)
 
     def frame(
         self,
diff --git a/astroid/nodes/scoped_nodes.py b/astroid/nodes/scoped_nodes.py
index fc4cd24005..df153b8875 100644
--- a/astroid/nodes/scoped_nodes.py
+++ b/astroid/nodes/scoped_nodes.py
@@ -44,8 +44,10 @@
 import io
 import itertools
 import os
+import sys
 import typing
-from typing import List, Optional, TypeVar
+import warnings
+from typing import List, Optional, TypeVar, Union, overload
 
 from astroid import bases
 from astroid import decorators as decorators_mod
@@ -65,6 +67,7 @@
     InconsistentMroError,
     InferenceError,
     MroError,
+    StatementMissing,
     TooManyLevelsError,
 )
 from astroid.interpreter.dunder_lookup import lookup
@@ -72,6 +75,18 @@
 from astroid.manager import AstroidManager
 from astroid.nodes import Arguments, Const, node_classes
 
+if sys.version_info >= (3, 6, 2):
+    from typing import NoReturn
+else:
+    from typing_extensions import NoReturn
+
+
+if sys.version_info >= (3, 8):
+    from typing import Literal
+else:
+    from typing_extensions import Literal
+
+
 ITER_METHODS = ("__iter__", "__getitem__")
 EXCEPTION_BASE_CLASSES = frozenset({"Exception", "BaseException"})
 objects = util.lazy_import("objects")
@@ -637,12 +652,34 @@ def fully_defined(self):
         """
         return self.file is not None and self.file.endswith(".py")
 
-    def statement(self):
+    @overload
+    def statement(self, *, future: Literal[None] = ...) -> "Module":
+        ...
+
+    @overload
+    def statement(self, *, future: Literal[True]) -> NoReturn:
+        ...
+
+    def statement(
+        self, *, future: Literal[None, True] = None
+    ) -> Union[NoReturn, "Module"]:
         """The first parent node, including self, marked as statement node.
 
-        :returns: The first parent statement.
-        :rtype: NodeNG
+        When called on a :class:`Module` with the future parameter this raises an error.
+
+        TODO: Deprecate the future parameter and only raise StatementMissing
+
+        :raises StatementMissing: If no self has no parent attribute and future is True
         """
+        if future:
+            raise StatementMissing(target=self)
+        warnings.warn(
+            "In astroid 3.0.0 NodeNG.statement() will return either a nodes.Statement "
+            "or raise a StatementMissing exception. nodes.Module will no longer be "
+            "considered a statement. This behaviour can already be triggered "
+            "by passing 'future=True' to a statement() call.",
+            DeprecationWarning,
+        )
         return self
 
     def previous_sibling(self):
diff --git a/tests/unittest_builder.py b/tests/unittest_builder.py
index 300e4e92d0..11019e1ba0 100644
--- a/tests/unittest_builder.py
+++ b/tests/unittest_builder.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
     AstroidSyntaxError,
     AttributeInferenceError,
     InferenceError,
+    StatementMissing,
 )
 from astroid.nodes.scoped_nodes import Module
 
@@ -614,7 +615,11 @@ def test_module_base_props(self) -> None:
         self.assertEqual(module.package, 0)
         self.assertFalse(module.is_statement)
         self.assertEqual(module.statement(), module)
-        self.assertEqual(module.statement(), module)
+        with pytest.warns(DeprecationWarning) as records:
+            module.statement()
+            assert len(records) == 1
+        with self.assertRaises(StatementMissing):
+            module.statement(future=True)
 
     def test_module_locals(self) -> None:
         """test the 'locals' dictionary of an astroid module"""
diff --git a/tests/unittest_nodes.py b/tests/unittest_nodes.py
index 73b4cecbd3..10607fe1a8 100644
--- a/tests/unittest_nodes.py
+++ b/tests/unittest_nodes.py
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
     AstroidBuildingError,
     AstroidSyntaxError,
     AttributeInferenceError,
+    StatementMissing,
 )
 from astroid.nodes.node_classes import (
     AssignAttr,
@@ -626,6 +627,12 @@ def _test(self, value: Any) -> None:
         self.assertIs(node.value, value)
         self.assertTrue(node._proxied.parent)
         self.assertEqual(node._proxied.root().name, value.__class__.__module__)
+        with self.assertRaises(AttributeError):
+            with pytest.warns(DeprecationWarning) as records:
+                node.statement()
+                assert len(records) == 1
+        with self.assertRaises(StatementMissing):
+            node.statement(future=True)
 
     def test_none(self) -> None:
         self._test(None)
diff --git a/tests/unittest_scoped_nodes.py b/tests/unittest_scoped_nodes.py
index 2045e1732c..db673629ff 100644
--- a/tests/unittest_scoped_nodes.py
+++ b/tests/unittest_scoped_nodes.py
@@ -323,6 +323,7 @@ def test_default_value(self) -> None:
     def test_navigation(self) -> None:
         function = self.module["global_access"]
         self.assertEqual(function.statement(), function)
+        self.assertEqual(function.statement(future=True), function)
         l_sibling = function.previous_sibling()
         # check taking parent if child is not a stmt
         self.assertIsInstance(l_sibling, nodes.Assign)
@@ -821,6 +822,7 @@ def test_instance_special_attributes(self) -> None:
     def test_navigation(self) -> None:
         klass = self.module["YO"]
         self.assertEqual(klass.statement(), klass)
+        self.assertEqual(klass.statement(future=True), klass)
         l_sibling = klass.previous_sibling()
         self.assertTrue(isinstance(l_sibling, nodes.FunctionDef), l_sibling)
         self.assertEqual(l_sibling.name, "global_access")