The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device that has a higher contrast ratio in a wide viewing angle and that can be easily produced at low cost. The present invention is a liquid crystal display device, including in the following order: a first polarizer; a first quarter-wavelength plate (nx>ny≧nz); a liquid crystal cell; a second quarter-wavelength plate having an Nz coefficient substantially the same as that of the first quarter-wavelength plate; a birefringent layer (II) (nx