diff --git a/src/ansi-c/literals/convert_character_literal.cpp b/src/ansi-c/literals/convert_character_literal.cpp
index 1c56ad18ecd..a6a79f8aef0 100644
--- a/src/ansi-c/literals/convert_character_literal.cpp
+++ b/src/ansi-c/literals/convert_character_literal.cpp
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ exprt convert_character_literal(
     PRECONDITION(src[1] == '\'');
     PRECONDITION(src[src.size() - 1] == '\'');
 
-    std::basic_string<unsigned int> value=
-      unescape_wide_string(std::string(src, 2, src.size()-3));
+    std::basic_string<char32_t> value =
+      unescape_wide_string(std::string(src, 2, src.size() - 3));
     // the parser rejects empty character constants
     CHECK_RETURN(!value.empty());
 
diff --git a/src/ansi-c/literals/convert_string_literal.cpp b/src/ansi-c/literals/convert_string_literal.cpp
index 874ed680f29..381bb38f95e 100644
--- a/src/ansi-c/literals/convert_string_literal.cpp
+++ b/src/ansi-c/literals/convert_string_literal.cpp
@@ -18,8 +18,7 @@ Author: Daniel Kroening, kroening@kroening.com
 
 #include "unescape_string.h"
 
-std::basic_string<unsigned int> convert_one_string_literal(
-  const std::string &src)
+std::basic_string<char32_t> convert_one_string_literal(const std::string &src)
 {
   PRECONDITION(src.size() >= 2);
 
@@ -28,8 +27,8 @@ std::basic_string<unsigned int> convert_one_string_literal(
     PRECONDITION(src[src.size() - 1] == '"');
     PRECONDITION(src[2] == '"');
 
-    std::basic_string<unsigned int> value=
-      unescape_wide_string(std::string(src, 3, src.size()-4));
+    std::basic_string<char32_t> value =
+      unescape_wide_string(std::string(src, 3, src.size() - 4));
 
     // turn into utf-8
     const std::string utf8_value = utf32_native_endian_to_utf8(value);
@@ -57,7 +56,7 @@ std::basic_string<unsigned int> convert_one_string_literal(
       unescape_string(std::string(src, 1, src.size()-2));
 
     // pad into wide string
-    std::basic_string<unsigned int> value;
+    std::basic_string<char32_t> value;
     value.resize(char_value.size());
     for(std::size_t i=0; i<char_value.size(); i++)
       value[i]=char_value[i];
@@ -72,7 +71,7 @@ exprt convert_string_literal(const std::string &src)
   // e.g., something like "asd" "xyz".
   // GCC allows "asd" L"xyz"!
 
-  std::basic_string<unsigned int> value;
+  std::basic_string<char32_t> value;
 
   char wide=0;
 
@@ -101,8 +100,7 @@ exprt convert_string_literal(const std::string &src)
     INVARIANT(j < src.size(), "non-terminated string constant '" + src + "'");
 
     std::string tmp_src=std::string(src, i, j-i+1);
-    std::basic_string<unsigned int> tmp_value=
-      convert_one_string_literal(tmp_src);
+    std::basic_string<char32_t> tmp_value = convert_one_string_literal(tmp_src);
     value.append(tmp_value);
     i=j;
   }
diff --git a/src/ansi-c/literals/unescape_string.cpp b/src/ansi-c/literals/unescape_string.cpp
index e3d8a21ff28..b8c1dbcea94 100644
--- a/src/ansi-c/literals/unescape_string.cpp
+++ b/src/ansi-c/literals/unescape_string.cpp
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ static void append_universal_char(
   unsigned int value,
   std::string &dest)
 {
-  std::basic_string<unsigned int> value_str(1, value);
+  std::basic_string<char32_t> value_str(1, value);
 
   // turn into utf-8
   const std::string utf8_value = utf32_native_endian_to_utf8(value_str);
@@ -28,9 +28,8 @@ static void append_universal_char(
   dest.append(utf8_value);
 }
 
-static void append_universal_char(
-  unsigned int value,
-  std::basic_string<unsigned int> &dest)
+static void
+append_universal_char(unsigned int value, std::basic_string<char32_t> &dest)
 {
   dest.push_back(value);
 }
@@ -153,10 +152,9 @@ std::string unescape_string(const std::string &src)
   return unescape_string_templ<char>(src);
 }
 
-std::basic_string<unsigned int> unescape_wide_string(
-  const std::string &src)
+std::basic_string<char32_t> unescape_wide_string(const std::string &src)
 {
-  return unescape_string_templ<unsigned int>(src);
+  return unescape_string_templ<char32_t>(src);
 }
 
 unsigned hex_to_unsigned(const char *hex, std::size_t digits)
diff --git a/src/ansi-c/literals/unescape_string.h b/src/ansi-c/literals/unescape_string.h
index be6f1a18093..9dcb10dc822 100644
--- a/src/ansi-c/literals/unescape_string.h
+++ b/src/ansi-c/literals/unescape_string.h
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ Author: Daniel Kroening, kroening@kroening.com
 #include <string>
 
 std::string unescape_string(const std::string &);
-std::basic_string<unsigned int> unescape_wide_string(const std::string &);
+std::basic_string<char32_t> unescape_wide_string(const std::string &);
 
 unsigned hex_to_unsigned(const char *, std::size_t digits);
 unsigned octal_to_unsigned(const char *, std::size_t digits);
diff --git a/src/ansi-c/scanner.l b/src/ansi-c/scanner.l
index ac122dd7612..ad408dbeb31 100644
--- a/src/ansi-c/scanner.l
+++ b/src/ansi-c/scanner.l
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ int make_identifier()
       for(; *p!=0 && digits>0; digits--, p++);
       p--; // go back for p++ later
       
-      std::basic_string<unsigned> utf32;
+      std::basic_string<char32_t> utf32;
       utf32+=letter;
       
       // turn into utf-8
diff --git a/src/util/unicode.cpp b/src/util/unicode.cpp
index 5679890f9fd..ce13365ed49 100644
--- a/src/util/unicode.cpp
+++ b/src/util/unicode.cpp
@@ -133,8 +133,7 @@ static void utf8_append_code(unsigned int c, std::string &result)
 
 /// \param s: UTF-32 encoded wide string
 /// \return utf8-encoded string with the same unicode characters as the input.
-std::string
-utf32_native_endian_to_utf8(const std::basic_string<unsigned int> &s)
+std::string utf32_native_endian_to_utf8(const std::basic_string<char32_t> &s)
 {
   std::string result;
 
diff --git a/src/util/unicode.h b/src/util/unicode.h
index 9e9f6f360e0..327b3093d1b 100644
--- a/src/util/unicode.h
+++ b/src/util/unicode.h
@@ -28,8 +28,7 @@ std::wstring widen(const std::string &s);
 #  define widen_if_needed(s) (s)
 #endif
 
-std::string
-utf32_native_endian_to_utf8(const std::basic_string<unsigned int> &s);
+std::string utf32_native_endian_to_utf8(const std::basic_string<char32_t> &s);
 
 /// \param utf8_str: UTF-8 string
 /// \return UTF-32 encoding of the string