Provided are a lighting apparatus capable of improving heat-releasing performance while maintaining structural strength, subduing luminance unevenness due to uneven heat distribution, and allowing the device to be thinner, and an image display apparatus including the lighting apparatus. A heat-conducting member (6) includes: a light-source supporter having a plane facing a light-incident plane; and a plate section having a plane facing a light-emitting plane and a plane facing a heat-releasing member (5), the light-source supporter being adjacent to the plate section. On the light-source supporter, a light source (7) is positioned on the plane facing the light-incident plane so as to face the light-incident plane, the plane of the plate section which faces the heat-releasing member (5) contacts a plane of the heat-releasing member (5) which faces a light guide member, and a centroid of the plate section deviates along a direction parallel to both the light-incident and light-emitting planes.