diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 65c7fa5b1..e6f717f00 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ limitations under the License.
   </distributionManagement>
 
   <properties>
-    <javaVersion>7</javaVersion>
+    <javaVersion>8</javaVersion>
     <maven.compiler.source>1.${javaVersion}</maven.compiler.source>
     <maven.compiler.target>1.${javaVersion}</maven.compiler.target>    
     <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>