Provided is a liquid crystal display device having a structure in which one surface of the alignment film contacts a liquid crystal layer, the other surface of the alignment film contacts an underlying layer, the refractive index of the alignment film monotonically increases in a film thickness direction of the alignment film from a boundary surface between the liquid crystal layer and the alignment film to a boundary surface between the underlying layer and the alignment film, and the minimum refractive index nLC of the liquid crystal layer, the refractive index nF2 of the alignment film at the boundary surface between the liquid crystal layer and the alignment film, the refractive index nF1 of the alignment film at the boundary surface between the alignment film and the underlying layer, and the refractive index nS2 of the underlying layer have a relationship of an equation (I) in which nLC≦nF2