A nitride semiconductor laser element capable of controlling the lateral confinement of light with a good reproducibility, the nitride semiconductor element comprising an n-type cladding layer (3), an MQW light emitting layer (4) formed on the cladding layer (3), a p-type cladding layer (5) and a p-type contact layer (6) formed on the light emitting layer (4), and an ion implantation light absorbing layer (7) formed, by introducing carbon, in regions other than a current passing region (8) in the cladding layer (5) and the contact layer (6).