An epitaxial wafer for a semiconductor light emitting device according to the present invention in which at least an n-type cladding layer formed with a mixed crystal made of an AlGaInP material, an active layer, a p-type Mg-doped cladding layer, and a p-type contact layer are stacked successively in that order on an n-type GaAs substrate, and the p-type contact layer is formed as at least two layers that are an Mg-doped contact layer and a Zn-doped contact layer stacked thereon when viewed from the n-type GaAs substrate, comprises a Zn-doped layer which is inserted between the p-type Mg-doped cladding layer and the p-type contact layer.