diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c0416d5fa9..d1c0af5d91 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -397,7 +397,7 @@ if(CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_LESS 3.18.0)
     set(_PY_DEV_MODULE Development)
 endif()
 if(openPMD_USE_PYTHON STREQUAL AUTO)
-    find_package(Python 3.7.0 COMPONENTS Interpreter ${_PY_DEV_MODULE})
+    find_package(Python 3.8.0 COMPONENTS Interpreter ${_PY_DEV_MODULE})
     if(Python_FOUND)
         if(openPMD_USE_INTERNAL_PYBIND11)
             add_subdirectory("${openPMD_SOURCE_DIR}/share/openPMD/thirdParty/pybind11")
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 54e9050987..5f08b571c0 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ FROM       quay.io/pypa/manylinux2010_x86_64 as build-env
 # FROM       quay.io/pypa/manylinux1_x86_64 as build-env
 ENV        DEBIAN_FRONTEND noninteractive
 
-# Python 3.7-3.11 via "37m 38 39 311"
-ARG        PY_VERSIONS="37m 38 39 310 311"
+# Python 3.8-3.11 via "38 39 311"
+ARG        PY_VERSIONS="38 39 310 311"
 
 # static libs need relocatable symbols for linking to shared python lib
 ENV        CFLAGS="-fPIC ${CFLAGS}"
@@ -112,30 +112,6 @@ RUN         for whl in /opt/src/dist/*.whl; do \
             && du -hs /opt/src/dist/* \
             && du -hs /wheelhouse/*
 
-# test in fresh env: Debian:Buster + Python 3.7
-FROM       debian:buster
-ENV        DEBIAN_FRONTEND noninteractive
-COPY --from=build-env /wheelhouse/openPMD_api-*-cp37-cp37m-manylinux2010_x86_64.whl .
-RUN        apt-get update \
-           && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends python3 python3-pip \
-           && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
-           # binutils
-RUN        python3 --version \
-           && python3 -m pip install -U pip \
-           && python3 -m pip install openPMD_api-*-cp37-cp37m-manylinux2010_x86_64.whl
-RUN        find / -name "openpmd*"
-RUN        ls -hal /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/
-RUN        ls -hal /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/openpmd_api/
-# RUN        ls -hal /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/.libsopenpmd_api
-# RUN        objdump -x /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/openpmd_api.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so | grep RPATH
-RUN        ldd /usr/local/lib/python3.7/dist-packages/openpmd_api/openpmd_api_cxx.cpython-37m-x86_64-linux-gnu.so
-RUN        python3 -c "import openpmd_api as io; print(io.__version__); print(io.variants)"
-RUN        python3 -m openpmd_api.ls --help
-RUN        openpmd-ls --help
-#RUN        echo "* soft core 100000" >> /etc/security/limits.conf && \
-#           python3 -c "import openpmd_api as io"; \
-#           gdb -ex bt -c core
-
 # test in fresh env: Debian:Sid + Python 3.8
 FROM       debian:sid
 ENV        DEBIAN_FRONTEND noninteractive
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index afb44932eb..a2983def96 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ while those can be built either with or without:
 
 Optional language bindings:
 * Python:
-  * Python 3.7 - 3.11
+  * Python 3.8 - 3.11
   * pybind11 2.11.1+
   * numpy 1.15+
   * mpi4py 2.1+ (optional, for MPI)
diff --git a/conda.yml b/conda.yml
index 2bb1713efd..e82567b2ae 100644
--- a/conda.yml
+++ b/conda.yml
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ dependencies:
   - pre-commit
   - pyarrow  # for dask
 #  - pybind11  # shipped internally
-  - python>=3.7
+  - python>=3.8
 
 # just a note for later hackery, we could install pip packages inside the env, too:
 #  - pip:
diff --git a/docs/source/dev/dependencies.rst b/docs/source/dev/dependencies.rst
index e82a330c8a..cc66b85587 100644
--- a/docs/source/dev/dependencies.rst
+++ b/docs/source/dev/dependencies.rst
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Optional: language bindings
 
 * Python:
 
-  * Python 3.7 - 3.11
+  * Python 3.8 - 3.11
   * pybind11 2.11.1+
   * numpy 1.15+
   * mpi4py 2.1+ (optional, for MPI)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 9db688042a..8d3a7e3348 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ def build_extension(self, ext):
     cmdclass=dict(build_ext=CMakeBuild),
     # scripts=['openpmd-ls'],
     zip_safe=False,
-    python_requires='>=3.7',
+    python_requires='>=3.8',
     # tests_require=['pytest'],
     install_requires=install_requires,
     # see: src/bindings/python/cli
@@ -221,7 +221,6 @@ def build_extension(self, ext):
         'Topic :: Database :: Front-Ends',
         'Programming Language :: C++',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9',
         'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10',