diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 00e37a2..3a8edaf 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 ### Changed
 
  - Write your awesome change here (by @you)
+ - Upgraded default kubernetes version from 1.11 to 1.12 (by @stijndehaes)
 
 # History
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9c86132..b5b381a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ MIT Licensed. See [LICENSE](https://github.com/terraform-aws-modules/terraform-a
 | cluster\_endpoint\_public\_access | Indicates whether or not the Amazon EKS public API server endpoint is enabled. | string | `"true"` | no |
 | cluster\_name | Name of the EKS cluster. Also used as a prefix in names of related resources. | string | n/a | yes |
 | cluster\_security\_group\_id | If provided, the EKS cluster will be attached to this security group. If not given, a security group will be created with necessary ingres/egress to work with the workers and provide API access to your current IP/32. | string | `""` | no |
-| cluster\_version | Kubernetes version to use for the EKS cluster. | string | `"1.11"` | no |
+| cluster\_version | Kubernetes version to use for the EKS cluster. | string | `"1.12"` | no |
 | config\_output\_path | Where to save the Kubectl config file (if `write_kubeconfig = true`). Should end in a forward slash `/` . | string | `"./"` | no |
 | iam\_path | If provided, all IAM roles will be created on this path. | string | `"/"` | no |
 | kubeconfig\_aws\_authenticator\_additional\_args | Any additional arguments to pass to the authenticator such as the role to assume. e.g. ["-r", "MyEksRole"]. | list | `[]` | no |
diff --git a/variables.tf b/variables.tf
index 588d42a..6ef4a8a 100644
--- a/variables.tf
+++ b/variables.tf
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ variable "cluster_security_group_id" {
 
 variable "cluster_version" {
   description = "Kubernetes version to use for the EKS cluster."
-  default     = "1.11"
+  default     = "1.12"
 }
 
 variable "config_output_path" {