A backrest for a vehicle seat, in particular a rear seat, has a head restraint which can be pivoted away from an approximately vertical operative position into an approximately horizontal inoperative position on the rear side of the backrest. The head restraint has a head cushion and at least one supporting rod which holds the head cushion and passes through a slot cutout in the backrest and is fixed to a pivoting shaft arranged in the backrest. In order to avoid openings on the upper side of the backrest for the passage of the supporting rod, the slot cutout is arranged in a rear wall of the backrest, and the supporting rod is designed in such a manner that it emerges out of the head cushion towards the rear side of the backrest with a curved rod section running concentrically to the pivoting shaft, and extends as far as the pivoting shaft with a straight rod section which is angled off at the end of the curved rod section.