A display device, comprising: a display panel arranged to display an image, said display panel being divided into a plurality of regions; a backlight unit which is disposed on a back surface of the display panel, and which includes a plurality of light sources for each region; a first detection unit; a second detection unit; and a drive unit (4, 7) arranged to determine an emission brightness of the respective light sources corresponding to each of the regions based on a characteristic amount of the image in each region that is detected by the first detection unit, and a characteristic amount of the image of the overall display panel that is detected by the second detection unit, and to drive the respective light sources to emit light at the determined emission brightness, characterized in that: the first detection unit is arranged to detect the average value of brightness, the maximum value of brightness, and a color area of a specific color of the image in each of the divided regions; the second detection unit is arranged to detect the variance value of brightness of the image of the overall display panel; and the drive unit (4, 7) is arranged to determine the emission brightness of the respective light sources based on a brightness corresponding to the color area of the specific color that is detected by the first detection unit when the variance value that is detected by the second detection unit is a first value or higher, to determine the emission brightness of the respective light sources based on the average value of brightness that is detected by the first detection unit when the variance value that is detected by the second detection unit is a second value, which is smaller than the first value, or less, and to determine the emission brightness of the respective light sources based on the maximum value of brightness that is detected by the first detection unit when the variance value that is detected by the second detection unit is smaller than the first value and greater than the second value. a display panel arranged to display an image, said display panel being divided into a plurality of regions; a backlight unit which is disposed on a back surface of the display panel, and which includes a plurality of light sources for each region; a first detection unit; a second detection unit; and a drive unit (4, 7) arranged to determine an emission brightness of the respective light sources corresponding to each of the regions based on a characteristic amount of the image in each region that is detected by the first detection unit, and a characteristic amount of the image of the overall display panel that is detected by the second detection unit, and to drive the respective light sources to emit light at the determined emission brightness, characterized in that: the first detection unit is arranged to detect the average value of brightness, the maximum value of brightness, and a color area of a specific color of the image in each of the divided regions; the second detection unit is arranged to detect the variance value of brightness of the image of the overall display panel; and the drive unit (4, 7) is arranged to determine the emission brightness of the respective light sources based on a brightness corresponding to the color area of the specific color that is detected by the first detection unit when the variance value that is detected by the second detection unit is a first value or higher, to determine the emission brightness of the respective light sources based on the average value of brightness that is detected by the first detection unit when the variance value that is detected by the second detection unit is a second value, which is smaller than the first value, or less, and to determine the emission brightness of the respective light sources based on the maximum value of brightness that is detected by the first detection unit when the variance value that is detected by the second detection unit is smaller than the first value and greater than the second value.