A three-dimensionally embossed non-woven fabric, which is comprised of fibers and/or filaments (3) oriented primarily in the moving direction (2) of the machine, and has zones (5, 7) with regularly alternating elevations (4a, 8a) and indentations (4b, 8b), which are separated from one another by non-embossed areas (6) that are continuous in the moving direction (2) of the machine. These non-embossed areas constitute a proportion ranging from 5% to 50% with regard to the entire surface of the non-woven fabric (1) and the elevations (4a, 8a), and indentations (4b, 8b), when viewed from the opposite side, form indentations or elevations respectively, whereby the surfaces (10a, 10b) delimited by the elevations give the non-woven fabric an apparent thickness ranging from 0.5 mm to 5.5 mm.