PURPOSE: To provide a heat-sensitive recording material with ground color development being inhibited, having a high color-developing sensitivity and capable of being easily obtained, wherein a heat-sensitive layer is formed of a heat-sensitive composition comprising a color former based on a metallic salt of an organic acid, a phenol base color developer and a chelate compound.

CONSTITUTION: Compositions obtained, for example, by respectively dispersing a color former based on a metallic salt of an organic acid (e.g., ferric stearate), 5W30wt% (to the amount of the color former) of a chelate compound (e.g., ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetic acid) and a phenol base color developer (e.g., gallinc acid) into a binder, preferably an anionic group containing PVA, are mixed with each other to prepare a heat-sensitive coating liquid, which is applied onto a base to form a heat-sensitive layer, and preferably, the surface of the heat-sensitive layer is coated with PVA to obtain the objective recording material.