diff --git a/changelog.d/8698.misc b/changelog.d/8698.misc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6b777fb295
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/8698.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Use Python 3.8 in Docker images by default.
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index 27512f8600..9791d3ddf0 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 #    docker build -f docker/Dockerfile --build-arg PYTHON_VERSION=3.6 .
 #
 
-ARG PYTHON_VERSION=3.7
+ARG PYTHON_VERSION=3.8
 
 ###
 ### Stage 0: builder