diff --git a/exporter/prometheusexporter/go.mod b/exporter/prometheusexporter/go.mod
index 09d5996c2a73..ec86aab2397f 100644
--- a/exporter/prometheusexporter/go.mod
+++ b/exporter/prometheusexporter/go.mod
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ require (
 	go.opentelemetry.io/collector/semconv v0.96.1-0.20240306115632-b2693620eff6
 	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric v1.24.0
 	go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace v1.24.0
+	go.uber.org/goleak v1.3.0
 	go.uber.org/zap v1.27.0
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.4.0
 )
diff --git a/exporter/prometheusexporter/package_test.go b/exporter/prometheusexporter/package_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4848448dfc0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/exporter/prometheusexporter/package_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+package prometheusexporter
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"go.uber.org/goleak"
+)
+
+// The IgnoreTopFunction call prevents catching the leak generated by opencensus
+// defaultWorker.Start which at this time is part of the package's init call.
+// See https://github.com/census-instrumentation/opencensus-go/issues/1191 for more information.
+func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
+	goleak.VerifyTestMain(m, goleak.IgnoreTopFunction("go.opencensus.io/stats/view.(*worker).start"))
+}
diff --git a/exporter/prometheusexporter/prometheus_test.go b/exporter/prometheusexporter/prometheus_test.go
index 763f3a34fef2..1c3c17411e24 100644
--- a/exporter/prometheusexporter/prometheus_test.go
+++ b/exporter/prometheusexporter/prometheus_test.go
@@ -136,8 +136,10 @@ func TestPrometheusExporter_WithTLS(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Cleanup(func() {
 		require.NoError(t, exp.Shutdown(context.Background()))
 		// trigger a get so that the server cleans up our keepalive socket
-		_, err = httpClient.Get("https://localhost:7777/metrics")
+		var resp *http.Response
+		resp, err = httpClient.Get("https://localhost:7777/metrics")
 		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.NoError(t, resp.Body.Close())
 	})
 
 	assert.NotNil(t, exp)
@@ -195,8 +197,10 @@ func TestPrometheusExporter_endToEndMultipleTargets(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Cleanup(func() {
 		require.NoError(t, exp.Shutdown(context.Background()))
 		// trigger a get so that the server cleans up our keepalive socket
-		_, err = http.Get("http://localhost:7777/metrics")
+		var resp *http.Response
+		resp, err = http.Get("http://localhost:7777/metrics")
 		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.NoError(t, resp.Body.Close())
 	})
 
 	assert.NotNil(t, exp)
@@ -277,8 +281,10 @@ func TestPrometheusExporter_endToEnd(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Cleanup(func() {
 		require.NoError(t, exp.Shutdown(context.Background()))
 		// trigger a get so that the server cleans up our keepalive socket
-		_, err = http.Get("http://localhost:7777/metrics")
+		var resp *http.Response
+		resp, err = http.Get("http://localhost:7777/metrics")
 		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.NoError(t, resp.Body.Close())
 	})
 
 	assert.NotNil(t, exp)
@@ -354,8 +360,10 @@ func TestPrometheusExporter_endToEndWithTimestamps(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Cleanup(func() {
 		require.NoError(t, exp.Shutdown(context.Background()))
 		// trigger a get so that the server cleans up our keepalive socket
-		_, err = http.Get("http://localhost:7777/metrics")
+		var resp *http.Response
+		resp, err = http.Get("http://localhost:7777/metrics")
 		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.NoError(t, resp.Body.Close())
 	})
 
 	assert.NotNil(t, exp)
@@ -434,8 +442,10 @@ func TestPrometheusExporter_endToEndWithResource(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Cleanup(func() {
 		require.NoError(t, exp.Shutdown(context.Background()))
 		// trigger a get so that the server cleans up our keepalive socket
-		_, err = http.Get("http://localhost:7777/metrics")
+		var resp *http.Response
+		resp, err = http.Get("http://localhost:7777/metrics")
 		require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to perform a scrape")
+		require.NoError(t, resp.Body.Close())
 	})
 
 	assert.NotNil(t, exp)