A vertical cavity surface emitting laser includes a layer-stack structure including, on a substrate, a transverse-mode adjustment layer, a first multilayer reflecting mirror, an active layer having a light emission region, and a second multilayer reflecting mirror in order from the substrate side, and including a current confinement layer in which a current injection region is formed in a region corresponding to the light emission region in the first multilayer reflecting mirror, between the first multilayer reflecting mirror and the active layer, between the active layer and the second multilayer reflecting mirror, or in the second multilayer reflecting mirror. In the transverse-mode adjustment layer, reflectance at an oscillation wavelength in the region opposite to a center of the light emission region is higher than that at an oscillation wavelength in the region opposite to an outer edge of the light emission region.