The invention relates to a method for producing an aqueous polymer dispersion having a polymer solids content of .gtoreq.50% by weight by carrying out the radically initiated aqueous emulsion polymerization of ethylenically unsaturated compounds (monomers). The inventive method is characterized in that: a) a mixture is provided in a polymerization vessel and contains a partial quantity 1 consisting of: deionized water, 0.001 to 0.5 parts by weight of a polymer with a weighted average particle diameter of .ltoreq.100 nm; 0.0001 to 0.1 parts by weight of dispersants, and 0.5 to 10 parts by weight of monomers, and the monomers are polymerized with a conversion of .gtoreq.80% [polymerization step A], and; b) afterwards, a monomer emulsion containing partial quantity 2, which consists of deionized water, 0.1 to 5 parts by weight of dispersants and 90 to 99.5 parts by weight of monomers, is fed under polymerization conditions to the obtained reaction mixture [polymerization step B], whereby; c) the total amount of the monomers used for the polymerization is equal to 100 parts by weight, and the total amount of deionized water is .ltoreq.100 parts by weight.