To provide a method for measuring film thickness distribution of a lubricating layer in a fine region corresponding to the size of a recording bit and to provide a magnetic recording medium having high durability and small magnetic spacing.

The magnetic recording medium is provided with a non-magnetic substrate, a magnetic layer, a protective layer and the lubricating layer. A cantilever of a scanning type probe microscope is resonated and when difference between a phase in a resonance state when an end part on the probe side of the cantilever is a free end in the atmosphere and a phase in a resonance state when the probe nearly comes in contact with the protective layer is defined as phase lag, phase lags are measured at a plurality of points on the surface of the magnetic recording medium. When an average value of the phase lags and its standard deviation are defined as δ and σ, respectively, σ/δ is ≤0.15. The measurement of the phase lag is preferably performed under 1 to 100 Pa pressure.