Patented is a disposable diaper capable of being put on from either the front or the back of a wearer. The article includes a liquid permeable topsheet, a liquid impermeable backsheet and a liquid retentive absorbent member interposed between the topsheet and the backsheet. The diaper has a pair of longitudinal side portions and a pair of longitudinal end sections, with each respective side portion and end section having a side edge. A crotch section has two side edges positioned between the pair of longitudinal end sections. Each of the crotch section’s two side edges contains an arched side edge. A fastening tape on each respective side edge of each longitudinal end section and each longitudinal side section of the diaper contains both a standing gather and a leg gather. A ratio of the minimum width W1 of the crotch section of the diaper to a whole width W2 of the longitudinal end section has fastening tapes on each side edge from 0.30 to 0.75. The minimum width W1 is in an area extending from a centerline across the diaper that divides a total length of the diaper in two equal halves toward both the longitudinal end sections by ±10% of the total length of the diaper. An area ratio of S1 to S2 is from 0.45 to 0.60, where S1 is an area of a region surrounded by an imaginary straight line L1 that passes through a midpoint P on one of the arched side edges of the crotch section of the diaper. The crotch section is divided into equal halves. An imaginary straight line L2 intersects with the line L1 at right angles and passes through an end point Q of the arched side edge of the crotch section on a side of the crotch section nearest the longitudinal end section of the diaper with fastening tapes on each side edge.