A nitride semiconductor light-emitting device wherein a substrate or nitride semiconductor layer has a defect concentration region and a low defect density region other than the defect concentration region. A portion including the defect concentration region of the nitride semiconductor layer or substrate has a trench region deeper than the low defect density region. Thus by digging the trench in the defect concentration region, the growth detection is uniformized, and the surface planarity is improved. The uniformity of the characteristic in the wafer surface leads to improvement of the yield.