In a nitride semiconductor light emitting diode including a substrate made of a nitride semiconductor, a first conductive-type nitride semiconductor layer formed on the substrate, an active layer made of a nitride semiconductor, and a second conductive-type nitride semiconductor layer, characterized in that light emitted is extracted from the under surface side of the substrate or the upper surface side of the second conductive-type nitride semiconductor layer, an intermediate layer is formed between the substrate and the active layer, and dislocations is allowed to generates from the dislocation generating layer as the origin and to distribute in a light emitting region of the active layer.