A pulse wave evaluation apparatus has a measurer to measure a pulse wave of a subject, a time detector to detect, per one beat of the measured pulse wave, a rising time of the pulse wave, a time when a first-order differentiation value of the pulse wave with time becomes maximum, and a maximum amplitude time of the pulse wave, a ratio detector to detect an acceleration ratio of mean acceleration from the rising time to the time when the first-order differentiation value becomes maximum and mean acceleration from the time when the first-order differentiation value becomes maximum to the maximum amplitude time, and an evaluator to evaluate the pulse wave based on the acceleration ratio.
