A reflective mask blank for EUV lithography having an absorbing layer which has a low reflectivity with respect to wavelength regions of EUV light and pattern inspection light, and which is easily controllable to obtain desired film composition and film thickness.The reflective mask blank for EUV lithography having a reflective layer for reflecting EUV light and an absorbing layer for absorbing EUV light which are formed in this order on a substrate, wherein the absorbing layer contains at least tantalum (Ta), boron (B), nitrogen (N) and hydrogen (H), and the absorbing layer has a B content that is 1 at % or greater but less than 5 at %, an H content that is between 0.1 and 5 at %, a Ta+N total content that is between 90 and 98.9%, and a Ta:N composition ratio (Ta:N) that is between 8:1 and 1:1.