The present invention relates to a water dispersion for ink jet recording, comprising water-insoluble vinyl polymer particles containing a colorant, wherein the water-insoluble vinyl polymer is a water-insoluble vinyl polymer obtained by polymerizing a monomer mixture comprising: (A) a monomer represented by the formula (I): wherein R1 represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, R2 represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms or a phenyl group whose hydrogen atom may be substituted with an alkyl group having 1 to 9 carbon atoms and m denotes a number from 65 to 100; (B) a salt-forming group-containing monomer; and (C) a hydrophobic monomer and the average particle diameter of the water-insoluble vinyl polymer particles containing a colorant is 0.02 to 0.50 μm.