More than half of Korean women of child-bearing age would prefer a daughter to a son, a survey has revealed. Infant product maker Agabang polled 2,642 women on the Internet from Jan. 1 to Jan. 15 and found that 60 percent of the respondents would rather a daughter than a son if they were to have a baby.

As to how many children they would like, 60 percent said two children, while 24 percent wanted one child and 15 percent wanted three children. Their reasons for not getting pregnant were the difficulties of rearing a child (45 percent), economic situation (35 percent) and personal development difficulties (12 percent). Some 51 percent of the respondents said they would solve the child-rearing difficulties with help from family and relatives.

To encourage the birth of more Koreans, the respondents suggested providing monetary support for child-rearing (59 percent), solving day-care problems (26 percent) and providing childbirth supplies (13 percent), indicating direct monetary supports are most desired.