In the case of a paper bag having a bag wall (1), which separates an inner bag space from an outer space and has at least one visible side (1a) visible from the outer space and an invisible inner side (1b) of a paper layer which is provided with an embossment (9) in the form of at least one symbol, good visibility of the embossment (9) is combined with gentle treatment of the paper fibers of the paper layer by virtue of the fact that the embossment (9) the embossment (9) is embodied in the form of a surface (10) which is elevated with respect to a plane (12) adjacent to the embossment (9) on the visible side (1a) and, corresponding thereto, as a depression which is present with respect to a plane of the inner side adjacent to the embossment (9) on the inner side (1b), that the elevated surface (10) on the visible side (1a) is connected to the plane (12) of the visible side (1a) by means of a connecting wall (11), and that the transition of the elevated surface (10) to the connecting wall (11) and the transition of the connecting wall (11) to the plane (12) of the visible side (1a) have a rounded form, and that the thickness of the paper layer in the region of the embossment (9) is at most 20% smaller than the thickness of the paper layer in the plane (12) adjacent to the embossment (9). An embossment (9) of this type is preferably produced by virtue of the fact that the embossment (9) is formed by guiding the bag wall (1) between an embossing tool (1) and a pressure-exerting tool (3) provided with an elastically compliant surface (5), the embossing tool (2) having the at least one symbol (4) in a depressed formation, such that the paper layer is pressed into the symbol (4) of the embossing tool (1) into the pressure-exerting tool (3) during the embossing operation.