An object of the present invention is to provide an exhaust gas purification catalyst which can exhibit high durability and warm-up performance. The present invention relates to an exhaust gas purification catalyst comprising a substrate and a catalyst coating layer formed on the substrate, wherein the catalyst coating layer comprises catalyst particles, the catalyst coating layer having an upstream region extending by 40 to 60% of the entire length of the substrate from an upstream end of the catalyst in the direction of an exhaust gas flow and a downstream region corresponding to the remainder portion of the catalyst coating layer, the composition of the catalyst particle of the upstream region being different from that of the downstream region. The upstream region in the direction of an exhaust gas flow has a structure where a void is included in a large number, and furthermore high-aspect-ratio pores having an aspect ratio of 5 or more account for a certain percentage or more of the whole volume of voids. Thus, the exhaust gas purification catalyst exhibits enhanced purification performance.