Modified polyvinyl alcohol contains a (meth)acrylamide monomer unit having an ionic group, wherein the modified polyvinyl alcohol has a degree of saponification of from 50 to 99.99 mol % and a viscosity-average degree of polymerization of from 200 to 5000 and satisfies formulae (1) to (3) below. The modified polyvinyl alcohol thus obtained is particularly excellent in dispersibility in water.0.8≦(MwUV/MwRI)≦1.3 (1)1≦(MwUV/MnUV)≦7 (2)0.03≦A280≦0.5 (3)