The invention provides an aqueous ink composition for ball-point pens excellent in both the lubricity for an aqueous ballpoint pen tip and the bleed resistance of writing. The ink composition comprises water and a colorant as the essential components and is characterized by further containing a compound represented by the general formula (1) and at least one water-soluble organic solvent selected from among alcohols having branched hydrophobic groups, glycols, and glycol ethers ##STR00001##