A nonwoven fabric 1 is formed of short fibers 11 of thermoplasticsynthetic resinfusedtogether.The nonwovenfabric 1 is formed on a top side 2 thereof with ridges 6 and troughs 7 undulating in a width direction B and extending in parallel to one another in a length direction A. When the nonwoven fabric 1 is placed on a horizontal plane H with the back side 3 put in contact with the horizontal plate H, highly void regions 21 are formed between the back side and the horizontal plane H. In the vicinity of apices of the respective ridges 6, the short fibers 11 slope down so as to extend in a thickness direction of the nonwoven fabric 1.