Acquisitions - Pro forma (Details) - USD ($)	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2015	Jun. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2015
Acquisitions
Basic earnings (loss) per share	$ 0.43	$ 0.50	$ 0.50	$ (3.14)
Diluted earnings (loss) per share	$ 0.42	$ 0.49	$ 0.49	$ (3.14)
After-tax pro forma adjustments
Interest Expense, Debt	$ 41,000,000	$ 31,000,000	$ 79,000,000	$ 70,000,000
Depreciation	68,000,000	62,000,000	133,000,000	121,000,000
Amortization of Intangible Assets	10,000,000	9,000,000	20,000,000	19,000,000
Rexam
Acquisitions
Net sales	2,761,000,000	3,027,000,000	5,179,000,000	5,689,000,000
Net earnings attributable to Ball Corporation	75,000,000	88,000,000	87,000,000	(551,000,000)
After-tax pro forma adjustments
Transaction costs	66,000,000		94,000,000
Transaction costs related to the acquisition	$ 196,000,000		196,000,000
Cost of sales				74,000,000
Ball Corporation
After-tax pro forma adjustments
Interest Expense, Debt		$ 29,000,000	$ 75,000,000	$ 66,000,000
United Kingdom \| Rexam
After-tax pro forma adjustments
Statutory tax rate used in pro forma adjustments	20.00%	20.00%	20.00%	20.50%
US \| Rexam
After-tax pro forma adjustments
Tax rate used in recording tax impact of transaction costs already incurred			37.00%

no definition

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Represents the statutory tax rate percentage used to record the tax impact on acquisition-related transaction costs already incurred.

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The aggregate expense charged against earnings to allocate the cost of intangible assets (nonphysical assets not used in production) in a systematic and rational manner to the periods expected to benefit from such assets. As a noncash expense, this element is added back to net income when calculating cash provided by or used in operations using the indirect method.

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Amount of direct costs of the business combination including legal, accounting, and other costs incurred to consummate the business acquisition.

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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The pro forma basic net income per share for a period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of a period.

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The pro forma diluted net income per share for a period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of a period.

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The pro forma net Income or Loss for the period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of a period.

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The pro forma revenue for a period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of the period.

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This element represents acquisition-related costs incurred to effect a business combination which costs have been expensed during the period. Such costs include finder's fees; advisory, legal, accounting, valuation, and other professional or consulting fees; general administrative costs, including the costs of maintaining an internal acquisitions department; and may include costs of registering and issuing debt and equity securities.

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Total costs related to goods produced and sold during the reporting period.

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The amount of expense recognized in the current period that reflects the allocation of the cost of tangible assets over the assets' useful lives. Includes production and non-production related depreciation.

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Percentage of current income tax expense (benefit) and deferred income tax expense (benefit) pertaining to continuing operations.

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Amount of the cost of borrowed funds accounted for as interest expense for debt.

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