A backlight unit and a display device including the backlight unit is disclosed The backlight unit includes a light source protective element located on light sources, a base film located on the light source protective element, and a plurality of optical path control patterns, each of which is located to overlap a corresponding one of the light sources, that are disposed on at least one of both surfaces of the base film and configured to direct traveling paths of at least some of incident light rays, the optical path control patterns including an acrylic-based resin or a polyester-based resin and at least one type of inorganic particles dispersed in the resins, thereby enabling a thickness of the backlight unit to be reduced and image quality to improve.