A process for preparing water-absorbing polymer beads with high permeability by polymerizing droplets of a monomer solution in a gas phase surrounding the droplets, wherein the monomer solution comprises at least 0.5% by weight of a crosslinker, based on the monomer, the polymerization in the droplet takes place in homogeneous phase, and the polymer beads have a mean diameter of at least 150 μm.本發明係關於一種藉由在環繞單體溶液微滴之氣相中聚合該等單體溶液微滴而製備具有高滲透性吸水聚合物珠粒之方法,其中該單體溶液以該單體計包括至少0.5重量%的交聯劑,該微滴中之聚合係在均相中實施,且該等聚合物珠粒具有至少150微米之平均直徑。