Disclosed is a PDP which has a protective layer having an improved discharge property and therefore can show an excellent image display performance even when the PDP has a high-resolution cell structure. Also disclosed is a method for manufacturing the PDP. Specifically, the protective layer (8) is composed of a MgO film layer (81) and a MgO crystal particle layer (82) comprising MgO crystal particles (16). The MgO crystal particles (16) are prepared in accordance with a production method employing MgO precursor firing, in such a manner that the ratio a/b becomes 1 or greater, wherein ''a'' represents a spectrum integral value in a wavelength range of not less than 200 nm and less than 300 nm and ''b'' represents a spectrum integral value in a wavelength range of not less than 300 nm and less than 550 nm both in the determination of a CL.