There is provided an LED lighting device having a satisfactory temperature characteristic and a small amount of variation in output current. The step-down chopper is provided with a first circuit including the switching element, the impedance means and a first inductor connected in series and a second circuit including the first inductor and a diode connected in series. A self-excited drive signal generation circuit is provided with a second inductor magnetically coupled with the first inductor and applies a voltage induced in the second inductor to the switching element to keep the switching element on. A turn-off circuit outputs an output voltage when the voltage of the impedance means detected by a comparator exceeds the reference value, and the output voltage allows a switching element to turn on to short-circuit the output terminals of the self-excited drive signal generation circuit, resulting in that the switching element is turned off.