A notch sensitivity factor was derived in order to evaluate the stress concentration sensitivity of Al-Li based alloys. The factor values for the Al-Li alloy sheets containing various contents of impurities and cerium addition were evaluated by determining the mechanical properties. It is found that the impurities Fe, Si, Na and K significantly enhance the stress concentration sensitivity of the alloys 2090 and 8090, whereas cerium addition reduces the stress concentration sensitivity to a certain degree for the high strength alloys. However, an excess amount of cerium addition in the high ductility alloy 1420 can significantly increase the stress concentration sensitivity. As compared with conventional aluminum alloys, the Al-Li based alloys generally show high stress concentration sensitivity. Therefore, a special attention must be paid to this problem in the practical application of Al-Li based alloys.