Acquisitions and Dispositions - Pro forma (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016	Sep. 30, 2016
Acquisitions
Basic earnings per share		$ 0.54
Diluted earnings per share		$ 0.53
After-tax pro forma adjustments
Cost of sales associated with Rexam inventory step-up	$ 83	$ 83
Rexam
Acquisitions
Net sales, proforma		7,931
Net earnings attributable to Ball Corporation		$ 187
United Kingdom \| Rexam
Acquisitions
Statutory tax rate used in pro forma adjustments		20.00%
U.S. \| Rexam
Acquisitions
Tax rate used in recording tax impact of transaction costs already incurred		37.00%

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The cost of sales associated with the step-up of inventory acquired with Rexam.

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

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