A mobile terminal for displaying a contact item and a control method thereof are provided. The mobile terminal includes: a display unit configured to display a plurality of contact items; a controller configured to designate a selected contact item as a representative contact item when any one of the contact items is selected, and designate a selected different contact item as a subordinate contact item when the different contact item is selected from among the contact items, and merge contact information corresponding to the subordinate contact item into contact information corresponding to the representative contact item when a control command for merging contact information is detected, wherein the controller disposes the subordinate contact item such that it is adjacent to the representative contact item.