Korean parents favor girls over boys: survey

The traditional preference of South Korean parents for boys over girls may be fading, a government survey showed on Thursday.

According to the survey, 66.2 percent of respondents said they would want a girl if they could only have one child. A total of 2,537 men and women over 19-years old participated in the survey conducted by Korea Research at the request of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Those who favor sons stood at 33.8 percent, only the half of those who prefer girls, illustrating the shifting attitude of Koreans.

If they could have two children, the majority of the respondents said they would want both genders.

And if they had a third child, 58.4 percent said they would want two daughters and one son, which echoes the emerging preference of favoring girls over boys.

Ock Hyun-ju, Intern reporter
(laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)