The electrolytic cell of the present invention comprises a cathode chamber, the chamber including a cathode and a reverse current absorbent member that is disposed facing the cathode and that comprises a base material and a reverse-current-absorbing body; the cathode and the reverse-current-absorbing body being electrically connected; and, when defining 0 as the height of a lower end of the cathode chamber and h as the height of an upper end of the cathode chamber, the ratio of the area S3 of the reverse-current-absorbing body present at a position I corresponding to a height of h/2-h to the area SA of a cathode-facing surface of the base material corresponding to position I is such that 0.20 ≤ S3/SA< 1.0.