Disclosed herein is a liquid-crystal display device capable of reducing leakage of light under a black state due to scattering from a liquid-crystal layer, and having high-contrast ratio, excellent image quality performance. The liquid-crystal display device comprises: a liquid-crystal panel including one pair of polarizers disposed on one pair of substrates, a liquid-crystal layer held in sandwiched form between the pair of substrates, and a group of electrodes formed on at least one of the pair of substrates for applying an electric field to the liquid-crystal layer; and a light source unit disposed outside the pair of substrates. The liquid-crystal layer includes a liquid-crystal material having an ordinary-light refractive index of at least 1.46, but up to 1.49, an extraordinary-light refractive index of at least 1.54, but up to 1.59, and a mean photoelastic constant of at least 8, but up to 25, and exhibiting a nematic phase.