An exhaust purification catalyst for a compression ignition engine comprises a carrier substrate and a metal-carrying layer which carries catalytic metal formed on the surface of the carrier substrate, and is characterized in that a diffusion restriction layer (14) having a predetermined thickness which portion extends from the surface of said diffusion restriction layer (14) opposite to said metal-carrying layer (12) into said diffusion restriction layer (14) and forms a thermal deterioration restriction layer (18) additionally having thermal resistance.