A mobile terminal and controlling method thereof are disclosed, by which a selection and/or execution of an application can be designated using a list of applications currently executed in a multitasking environment. The present invention includes a display unit, a user input unit configured to receive an input of a command from a user, and a controller, when a plurality of applications are being executed, if there is a first input via the user input unit, controlling a list of a plurality of the currently executed applications to be displayed on a first region, the controller, if one of at least one or more applications running in the background in the list is selected by a second input via the user input unit, controlling the selected application to be displayed on a second region of the display unit by having a prescribed visual effect applied thereto.