The invention relates to an absorbent article comprising a ventral sheet member, a dorsal sheet member and a crotch sheet member joined to said ventral sheet member and said dorsal sheet member, wherein said crotch sheet member has a transverse dimension smaller than those of said ventral and dorsal sheet members, whereby said ventral sheet member and said dorsal sheet member are provided with waist elastic members bonded thereto under tension in the transverse direction, at least a region of said ventral sheet member in which said waist elastic members are present and said crotch sheet member overlap each other, opposite side edges extending in the longitudinal direction on both sides of said crotch sheet member are parallel to each other at least when the absorbent article is flatly developed, and an apparent width of said crotch sheet member as measured in the transverse direction after said waist elastic members have been left contract and thereby said crotch sheet member has been left shrink together with said ventral sheet member and said dorsal sheet member is larger on a border line with said dorsal sheet member than on a border line with said ventral sheet member.
