A developing device of the present invention includes stationary layer angle setting means. Assume that a developer layer, staying at a position upstream of a metering member in a direction in which a developer carrier conveys a developer, consists of a stationary layer in which the developer is not replaced and a flowing layer in which it is replaced, that an angle between, as seen from the axis of the developer carrier, the upstream edge portion, in the above direction, of the end portion of the metering member, which faces the developer carrier, and a position where the end of the stationary layer upstream of, but remote from the edge portion, is located is thetad, and that an angle between, as seen from the above axis, the edge portion and a position where a magnetic pole is positioned just upstream of a doctor pole in the above direction is theta1. Then, the angle thetad lies in a preselected range relative to the angle theta1.