An organic EL device and a display with excellent viewing-angle properties and high efficiency are provided. An organic electroluminescent device (1) comprising: a transparent electrode (12), a counter electrode (14) arranged opposite to the transparent electrode (12), one or more intermediate conductive layers (30, 32 and 34) and one or more organic emitting layers (20, 22, 24 and 26) arranged between the transparent electrode (12) and the counter electrode (14), wherein the difference between n.sub.a and n.sub.b is 0.2 or less when n.sub.a is the refractive index of the intermediate conductive layer (30) and n.sub.b is the refractive index of the organic emitting layer (20).