A method for driving a surface discharge type plasma display panel (PDP) having a matrix display form is provided. The surface discharge type PDP is driven by a progressive driving method such that non-discharge regions are removed by combining common and scanning electrodes traversing neighboring discharge cells or two neighboring scanning electrodes into one. While the scanning electrodes traversing neighboring discharge cells are reduced to one to be used in common, sequential scanning is allowed. Thus, the number of driver circuits can be reduced. Also, since the distance between electrodes of the respective lines can be reduced, a high-precision PDP can be achieved by reducing a line pitch. Also, the ratio of the area occupied by display electrodes in a unit emission region is increased and the range in which a surface discharge occurs is extended, thereby improving the luminance.