The invention aims to provide a water absorber which exhibits high gel stability, little scattering in gel stability among particle sizes, and good water absorption characteristics. A particulate water absorber which comprises a water-absorbing resin as the main component and a chelating agent and in which the constituent particles comprise particles having particle diameters of less than 300[mu]m and particles having particle diameters of 300 to less than 850[mu]m, each particle diameter being determined by JIS standard sieves, characterized in that: the content of the chelating agent is 0.001 to 5 parts by weight relative to 100 parts by weight of the solid matter of the water-absorbing resin and the relationship (1) 1.2
