The surface-discharge type plasma display panel does not require accurate spacing between two plates. Also, the number of manufacturing processes can be reduced to nearly half those required for opposed-discharge-type panels, resulting in low cost. The relationship between the principal design factors of a surface-discharge-type panel and the firing voltage in the nonmemory mode is discussed, based upon experiments and calculations from an equivalent circuit. Furthermore, by making use of the fact that one side of the panel is simply a cover glass for the gas space, it is possible to obtain green emission by coating a phosphor on the inside surface of the cover glass. In this arrangement, degradation of the phosphor by ion bombardment seldom occurs and long life panels can be achieved.