diff --git a/include/boost/core/default_allocator.hpp b/include/boost/core/default_allocator.hpp
index c269b85..eadd293 100644
--- a/include/boost/core/default_allocator.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/core/default_allocator.hpp
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
 
 #include <boost/config.hpp>
 #include <new>
+#include <climits>
 
 namespace boost {
 
@@ -59,7 +60,11 @@ struct default_allocator {
         BOOST_NOEXCEPT { }
 
     BOOST_CONSTEXPR std::size_t max_size() const BOOST_NOEXCEPT {
+#if defined(PTRDIFF_MAX) && defined(SIZE_MAX) && (PTRDIFF_MAX < SIZE_MAX)
+        return PTRDIFF_MAX / sizeof(T);
+#else
         return ~static_cast<std::size_t>(0) / sizeof(T);
+#endif
     }
 
 #if !defined(BOOST_NO_EXCEPTIONS)