diff --git a/core/INSTALL.txt b/core/INSTALL.txt
index b753f3a..5fa60b7 100644
--- a/core/INSTALL.txt
+++ b/core/INSTALL.txt
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ Drupal requires:
 - A web server with PHP support, for example:
   - Apache 2.0 (or greater) (http://httpd.apache.org/).
   - Nginx 1.1 (or greater) (http://www.nginx.com/).
-- PHP 5.3.10 (or greater) (http://www.php.net/).
+- PHP 5.4 (or greater) (http://www.php.net/).
 - One of the following databases:
   - MySQL 5.0.15 (or greater) (http://www.mysql.com/).
   - MariaDB 5.1.44 (or greater) (http://mariadb.org/). MariaDB is a fully
diff --git a/core/includes/bootstrap.inc b/core/includes/bootstrap.inc
index d071bc4..a97f6be 100644
--- a/core/includes/bootstrap.inc
+++ b/core/includes/bootstrap.inc
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 /**
  * Minimum supported version of PHP.
  */
-const DRUPAL_MINIMUM_PHP = '5.3.10';
+const DRUPAL_MINIMUM_PHP = '5.4';
 
 /**
  * Minimum recommended value of PHP memory_limit.
diff --git a/core/install.php b/core/install.php
index b12947a..944a42b 100644
--- a/core/install.php
+++ b/core/install.php
@@ -23,16 +23,8 @@
 // The minimum version is specified explicitly, as DRUPAL_MINIMUM_PHP is not
 // yet available. It is defined in bootstrap.inc, but it is not possible to
 // load that file yet as it would cause a fatal error on older versions of PHP.
-if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.3.10') < 0) {
-  print 'Your PHP installation is too old. Drupal requires at least PHP 5.3.10. See the <a href="http://drupal.org/requirements">system requirements</a> page for more information.';
-  exit;
-}
-
-// Exit early if the PHP option safe_mode is enabled to avoid fatal errors.
-// @todo Remove this check once we require PHP > 5.4 as safe mode is deprecated
-// in PHP 5.3 and completely removed in PHP 5.4.
-if (ini_get('safe_mode')) {
-  print 'Your PHP installation has safe_mode enabled. Drupal requires the safe_mode option to be turned off. See the <a href="http://drupal.org/requirements">system requirements</a> page for more information.';
+if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.4') < 0) {
+  print 'Your PHP installation is too old. Drupal requires at least PHP 5.4. See the <a href="http://drupal.org/requirements">system requirements</a> page for more information.';
   exit;
 }
 
diff --git a/core/update.php b/core/update.php
index 7abd566..8f4f859 100644
--- a/core/update.php
+++ b/core/update.php
@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@
 // The minimum version is specified explicitly, as DRUPAL_MINIMUM_PHP is not
 // yet available. It is defined in bootstrap.inc, but it is not possible to
 // load that file yet as it would cause a fatal error on older versions of PHP.
-if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.3.10') < 0) {
-  print 'Your PHP installation is too old. Drupal requires at least PHP 5.3.10. See the <a href="http://drupal.org/requirements">system requirements</a> page for more information.';
+if (version_compare(PHP_VERSION, '5.4') < 0) {
+  print 'Your PHP installation is too old. Drupal requires at least PHP 5.4. See the <a href="http://drupal.org/requirements">system requirements</a> page for more information.';
   exit;
 }