Click here for more articles by Kormedi.com. Korea is seeing a striking shift in parental preferences, with surveys showing that daughters are now favored over sons across all generations, including older adults. While 29 percent of respondents said they would prefer to have a daughter even if they had no son, only 2 percent said they would prefer to have a son without a daughter. The dramatic reversal from the country's once-strong preference for sons reflects broad social and cultural changes, including weakened expectations for children to support aging parents, the growing influence of maternal grandparents and the rise of so-called "daughter-loving dads." According to the 2026 Survey on Perception of Child and Parenting, released by Korea Research on July 28, 62 percent of respondents said they believed a family should have at least one daughter, compared with 35 percent who said a family should have at least one son. The preference was even more pronounced among older adults. Among respondents aged 70 and older, 73 percent said having a daughter was important, while 50 percent said