Abstract: The solution pertains to a hydrophilic copolymer suitable in particular for contact and intraocular lenses and medical applications and to a method for its production.The solution consists in a hydrophilic copolymer which can be prepared by copolymerization of 5 to 95 wt.-% 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone with 95 to 5 wt.-% alkylene glycol acetate methacrylates or acrylates of the general formula I ##STR1## where R is the group CH.sub.2 .dbd.CH-- or CH.sub.2 .dbd.C(CH.sub.3)-- and n means an integer 1 to 3, in the presence of 0.01 to 50 wt.-% of a crosslinking agent under the conditions of radical copolymerization in the presence of radical initiators.