Provided are: a water absorbent resin that has good dispersibility even in a moisture absorption state when forming an absorbent body that constitutes an absorbent article and that makes it possible to efficiently produce an absorbent article by preventing problems during the production thereof； and an absorbent article that uses an absorbent body comprising the water absorbent resin. The water absorbent resin is obtained by polymerizing a water soluble ethylenically unsaturated monomer and using a post crosslinking agent to post crosslink the result and is characterized by satisfying the following requirements: (A) yellowness is 5.0 or less； and (B) gel strength is 1800 Pa or less.
