A zoom lens includes: first, second and third lens groups having negative refracting power, positive refracting power and positive refracting power, respectively, disposed in the order listed from an object side to an image side, wherein during zooming from a wide angle end to a telephoto end, the first lens group is moved and the second lens group is moved toward the object such that an air space between the first and second lens groups decreases and an air space between the second and third lens groups increases; and the first lens group is formed by first and second lenses, the first and second lenses being disposed in the order listed from the object side to the image side, and the zoom lens satisfying the following Conditional Expressions (1) and (2) nd12>2.0  (1) νd12