diff --git a/package/boost/Config.in b/package/boost/Config.in
index 389592fd32..e0bff17f75 100644
--- a/package/boost/Config.in
+++ b/package/boost/Config.in
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_BOOST_CONTEXT
 	bool "boost-context"
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_BOOST_CONTEXT_ARCH_SUPPORTS
 	depends on !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_GCC_BUG_64735
-	select BR2_PACKAGE_BOOST_THREAD if !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_4_8
+	select BR2_PACKAGE_BOOST_THREAD if !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_4_7
 	help
 	  C++11 context switching library.
 
diff --git a/package/boost/boost.mk b/package/boost/boost.mk
index 0adad89297..2ce6bbb75f 100644
--- a/package/boost/boost.mk
+++ b/package/boost/boost.mk
@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@ else
 BOOST_FLAGS += --without-icu
 endif
 
+# boost-context needs C++11
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_BOOST_CONTEXT)$(BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_4_7),yy)
+BOOST_TARGET_CXXFLAGS += -std=c++11
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_BOOST_IOSTREAMS),y)
 BOOST_DEPENDENCIES += bzip2 zlib
 endif