A perpendicular magnetic recording medium having a soft magnetic backing layer in which amount of cobalt elution is suppressed without imposing restraint on the construction of the protective layer is disclosed. The perpendicular magnetic recording medium of the invention comprises at least a soft magnetic backing layer, a magnetic recording layer, and a protective layer sequentially laminated on a nonmagnetic substrate, the soft magnetic backing layer containing iron and cobalt, and further containing at least two elements selected from Si, Ni, Ta, Nb, Zr, Ti, Cr, Mo, and B, and the surface roughness of the soft magnetic backing layer being in a range of 0.2 nm to 0.8 nm in center line average roughness. The iron concentration in the soft magnetic backing layer preferably is in the range of 40 at % to 85 at %, the cobalt concentration preferably is in a range of 10 at % to 45 at %, and the total concentration of Si, Ni, Ta, Nb, Zr, Ti, Cr, Mo, and B is in a range of 20 at % to 50 at %.