Absorbent article with improved leakage protection

An absorbent article for taking up body fluids, with a longitudinal direction, a transverse direction, a crotch portion and two end portions, and having side edges extending in the longitudinal direction and end edges extending in the transverse direction, and comprising a liquid-permeable cover sheet and a liquid-tight cover sheet, and an absorbent body arranged between the cover sheets, and further comprising barriers which are arranged along the side edges of the article and which are raised up from the liquid-permeable cover sheet, wherein the liquid-permeable cover sheet has a central zone arranged essentially in the crotch portion of the article, and two end zones arranged at the end portions of the article, the liquid-permeable cover sheet being more hydrophilic in the central zone than in the end zones and wherein the difference in hydrophilicity between the central zone and the end zones of the liquid-permeable cover sheet is obtained by the liquid-permeable cover sheet comprising an essentially hydrophobic material which has been treated to obtain hydrophilicity in the central zone, the central zone of the liquid-permeable cover sheet having an extent in the transverse direction of the article corresponding to 60-100% of a width of the article,

• in which the central zone of the liquid-permeable cover sheet has an extent in the longitudinal direction of the article corresponding to 25-75% of a length of the article.