diff --git a/doc/release-notes.md b/doc/release-notes.md
--- a/doc/release-notes.md
+++ b/doc/release-notes.md
@@ -8,3 +8,10 @@
  - The `-zapwallettxes` startup option has been removed and its functionality removed
    from the wallet. This functionality has been superseded with the abandon transaction
    feature.
+ - `getnetworkinfo` now returns two new fields, `connections_in` and
+   `connections_out`, that provide the number of inbound and outbound peer
+   connections. These new fields are in addition to the existing `connections`
+   field, which returns the total number of peer connections.
+ - The `connections` field of `bitcoin-cli -getinfo` is expanded to return a JSON
+   object with `in`, `out` and `total` numbers of peer connections. It previously
+   returned a single integer value for the total number of peer connections.
diff --git a/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp b/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp
--- a/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp
+++ b/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp
@@ -363,8 +363,16 @@
             batch[ID_BLOCKCHAININFO]["result"]["verificationprogress"]);
         result.pushKV("timeoffset",
                       batch[ID_NETWORKINFO]["result"]["timeoffset"]);
-        result.pushKV("connections",
-                      batch[ID_NETWORKINFO]["result"]["connections"]);
+
+        UniValue connections(UniValue::VOBJ);
+        connections.pushKV("in",
+                           batch[ID_NETWORKINFO]["result"]["connections_in"]);
+        connections.pushKV("out",
+                           batch[ID_NETWORKINFO]["result"]["connections_out"]);
+        connections.pushKV("total",
+                           batch[ID_NETWORKINFO]["result"]["connections"]);
+        result.pushKV("connections", connections);
+
         result.pushKV("proxy",
                       batch[ID_NETWORKINFO]["result"]["networks"][0]["proxy"]);
         result.pushKV("difficulty",
diff --git a/src/rpc/net.cpp b/src/rpc/net.cpp
--- a/src/rpc/net.cpp
+++ b/src/rpc/net.cpp
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@
                  "Total bytes received"},
                 {RPCResult::Type::NUM, "totalbytessent", "Total bytes sent"},
                 {RPCResult::Type::NUM_TIME, "timemillis",
-                 "Current UNIX time in milliseconds"},
+                 "Current " + UNIX_EPOCH_TIME + " in milliseconds"},
                 {RPCResult::Type::OBJ,
                  "uploadtarget",
                  "",
@@ -629,7 +629,11 @@
                  "true if transaction relay is requested from peers"},
                 {RPCResult::Type::NUM, "timeoffset", "the time offset"},
                 {RPCResult::Type::NUM, "connections",
-                 "the number of connections"},
+                 "the total number of connections"},
+                {RPCResult::Type::NUM, "connections_in",
+                 "the number of inbound connections"},
+                {RPCResult::Type::NUM, "connections_out",
+                 "the number of outbound connections"},
                 {RPCResult::Type::BOOL, "networkactive",
                  "whether p2p networking is enabled"},
                 {RPCResult::Type::ARR,
@@ -695,6 +699,10 @@
         obj.pushKV("networkactive", node.connman->GetNetworkActive());
         obj.pushKV("connections",
                    int(node.connman->GetNodeCount(CConnman::CONNECTIONS_ALL)));
+        obj.pushKV("connections_in",
+                   int(node.connman->GetNodeCount(CConnman::CONNECTIONS_IN)));
+        obj.pushKV("connections_out",
+                   int(node.connman->GetNodeCount(CConnman::CONNECTIONS_OUT)));
     }
     obj.pushKV("networks", GetNetworksInfo());
     obj.pushKV("relayfee", ::minRelayTxFee.GetFeePerK());
diff --git a/test/functional/interface_bitcoin_cli.py b/test/functional/interface_bitcoin_cli.py
--- a/test/functional/interface_bitcoin_cli.py
+++ b/test/functional/interface_bitcoin_cli.py
@@ -81,7 +81,14 @@
         assert_equal(cli_get_info['blocks'], blockchain_info['blocks'])
         assert_equal(cli_get_info['headers'], blockchain_info['headers'])
         assert_equal(cli_get_info['timeoffset'], network_info['timeoffset'])
-        assert_equal(cli_get_info['connections'], network_info['connections'])
+        assert_equal(
+            cli_get_info['connections'],
+            {
+                'in': network_info['connections_in'],
+                'out': network_info['connections_out'],
+                'total': network_info['connections']
+            }
+        )
         assert_equal(cli_get_info['proxy'],
                      network_info['networks'][0]['proxy'])
         assert_equal(cli_get_info['difficulty'], blockchain_info['difficulty'])
diff --git a/test/functional/rpc_net.py b/test/functional/rpc_net.py
--- a/test/functional/rpc_net.py
+++ b/test/functional/rpc_net.py
@@ -117,8 +117,11 @@
 
     def test_getnetworkinfo(self):
         self.log.info("Test getnetworkinfo")
-        assert_equal(self.nodes[0].getnetworkinfo()['networkactive'], True)
-        assert_equal(self.nodes[0].getnetworkinfo()['connections'], 2)
+        info = self.nodes[0].getnetworkinfo()
+        assert_equal(info['networkactive'], True)
+        assert_equal(info['connections'], 2)
+        assert_equal(info['connections_in'], 1)
+        assert_equal(info['connections_out'], 1)
 
         with self.nodes[0].assert_debug_log(expected_msgs=['SetNetworkActive: false\n']):
             self.nodes[0].setnetworkactive(state=False)
@@ -133,8 +136,11 @@
         connect_nodes(self.nodes[0], self.nodes[1])
         connect_nodes(self.nodes[1], self.nodes[0])
 
-        assert_equal(self.nodes[0].getnetworkinfo()['networkactive'], True)
-        assert_equal(self.nodes[0].getnetworkinfo()['connections'], 2)
+        info = self.nodes[0].getnetworkinfo()
+        assert_equal(info['networkactive'], True)
+        assert_equal(info['connections'], 2)
+        assert_equal(info['connections_in'], 1)
+        assert_equal(info['connections_out'], 1)
 
         # check the `servicesnames` field
         network_info = [node.getnetworkinfo() for node in self.nodes]