diff --git a/forte/data/data_pack.py b/forte/data/data_pack.py
index 3c20e9978..0100ca618 100644
--- a/forte/data/data_pack.py
+++ b/forte/data/data_pack.py
@@ -1598,12 +1598,14 @@ def require_annotations(entry_class=Annotation) -> bool:
 
         # If we don't have any annotations but the items to check requires them,
         # then we simply yield from an empty list.
+        # changed form using len(annotations) to num_annotations directly for
+        # improving the performance.
         if (
-            len(self.annotations) == 0
+            self.num_annotations == 0
             and isinstance(range_annotation, Annotation)
             and require_annotations(Annotation)
         ) or (
-            len(self.audio_annotations) == 0
+            self.num_audio_annotations == 0
             and isinstance(range_annotation, AudioAnnotation)
             and require_annotations(AudioAnnotation)
         ):