A phosphor layer having improved contrast and brightness characteristics and a display device including the same are provided. The phosphor layer is made out of an ultra-fine pigment, a dispersant, aphosphor, a photosensitizer and a binder. The phosphor has a uniform distribution along the thickness of the phosphor layer, and the pigment varies in content over the thickness of the phosphor layer.A method of forming the phosphor layer is based on existing phosphor layer processes and includes a reduced number of processing steps than a filter screen method, thereby markedly lowering the manufacturing costs. The phosphor layer can be used in a cathode ray tube, a plasma display panel, a field emission display, and an organic electroluminescent device.