To provide an alkaline dry battery excellent in discharge characteristics and reliability without liquid leakage even if the battery is charged by mistake.

The alkaline dry battery is provided with a positive electrode containing manganese dioxide, a negative electrode containing zinc, a separator arranged between the positive electrode and the negative electrode, and alkaline electrolyte. An air permeability of the separator is 0.5 to 5.0 ml/sec/cm2. A potential of manganese dioxide is 270 to 330 mV (vs. Hg/HgO). The alkaline electrolyte contains 2 to 4.5 wt.% of zinc oxide.