The present invention relates to a nitrogen-doped porous carbon material for a lithium-air battery positive electrode, wherein the nitrogen-doped porous carbon material has an interconnected graded pore structure, N is uniformly doped in the C skeleton, N accounts for 0.2-15% of the carbon material atomic ratio, the graded pores comprise mass transfer pores and deposition holes, the deposition holes account for 40-95% of the total pore volume, and the mass transfer pores account for 4-55% of the total pore volume. According to the present invention, with application of the carbon material as the lithium-air battery electrode material, the space utilization rate of the carbon material during the charge-discharge process can be increased at a maximum, and the energy density and the power density of the lithium-air battery can be effectively increased; and the preparation process is simple, the material source is wide, the pore structure of the graded pore carbon material can be regulated, the regulation manner is diverse, and the nitrogen doping manner is easily achieved.