diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index a879d16..d009520 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>${project.encoding}</project.build.sourceEncoding>
         <project.reporting.outputEncoding>${project.encoding}</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
 
-        <project.java.version>1.7</project.java.version>
+        <project.java.version>1.8</project.java.version>
         <!-- These are used by multiple plugins (compiler, javadoc, xref, etc) -->
         <project.compile.source>${project.java.version}</project.compile.source>
         <project.compile.target>${project.java.version}</project.compile.target>