A light diffusive sheet of the present invention comprises a transparent polymer sheet provided with a light diffusion layer 3 on one side and an uneven surface 4a having arithmetical mean deviation of 0.5 μm or less and mean spacing of 80 μm or narrower on the opposite side. Such an uneven surface can be made by forming a backcoat layer 4 including a mixture of particles having particular mean diameters in a particular proportion to a binder resin on the transparent polymer sheet. An area light source element 7 of the present invention is produced by laminating a prism sheet 6 on a light guide plate 5 so that the prism surface 61 of the prism sheet 6 is opposed to the light-emitting surface 51 of the light guide plate 5 and laminating the light diffusive sheet on the prism sheet 6 so that the uneven surface (backcoat layer) of the light diffusive sheet is opposed to the surface opposite of the prism surface. The light diffusive sheet of the present invention can prevent occurrence of a rainbow-like annular pattern without deteriorating the front luminance and view angle of the area light source even when combined with a downward-facing prism sheet.