A lighting apparatus for an image display apparatus is provided with: a plurality of light sources corresponding to a plurality of areas of a screen; and a control unit configured to control a duty ratio of a turn-on period and a turn-off period of each light source according to an image signal to be inputted, by carrying out pulse width modulation control on the turn-on periods of time and the turn-off periods of time of the plurality of light sources. In cases where the duty ratio of each light source is controlled according to the image signal to be inputted, the control unit regulates turn-on start timing of each light source in such a manner that a variation in the number of light sources which are turned on at the same time to be suppressed.