With global life expectancy now at age 68 for men and 73 for women, it’s more likely than ever that your children will have to support you in old age. But will it be your son or your daughter who steps up to take responsibility?

The answer may surprise you. Sons are not only less likely to support elderly parents, but are actually more likely to depend on them for financial support, making daughters the favoured gender. This trend is spreading to some of the world’s most patriarchal societies, including some in East Asia, where the greatest gender imbalance exists.

What’s your take on daughters versus sons?

Daughters are better financial investments than sons, according to recent data. Is there a cultural basis in these results, predicated on gender preference? Or is this a rising global trend?

For the past 40 years, US couples have consistently favoured sons over daughters.

American men favoured sons. Women, however, voted equally for both genders.

East Asian couples, who traditionally favoured sons, are now showing a preference for daughters.

In the past decade, the ratio of Chinese boys to girls born dropped from 12:10 to 11:10.

In 1999, 75% of Japanese couples said they hoped for a daughter.

In 2011, 66% of South Korean couples wanted a daughter.

Globally, it is believed that daughters are more likely to provide for their elderly parents. In the US, men are...

2x more likely to not provide emotional support;

3x more likely to live their parents out of financial necessity;

2x more likely to receive financial aid from their parents.

In China, where one of the world’s largest gender gaps exists, women provide more financial support than men.

In part due to cultural norms, Chinese women have higher rates of living with their parents than men. Those that do also offer greater financial support to their parents.

參考中文：
隨著全球壽命境況正邁向男人68歲，女人73歲的年齡段，在你垂垂老去時，你的孩子將比以往任何時候承擔起晚年照顧你的重任。但是會是你的兒子還是女兒承擔起這份責任呢？

答案可能會令你震驚，兒子不僅不太可能照顧年邁的父母，而且實際上還會更“覬覦”著依賴父母的財政支持，這使得女兒更能受到父母的青睞。當下，這一趨勢正逐漸向世界包括東亞在內的其他父權制社會國家蔓延，而這些國家正是性別失衡現象嚴重發生的地區。

那么，在這場“生女還是生子”之爭中，你更傾向于何種觀點？

根據近來的數據顯示，女兒在財務投資方面比兒子更為優越。基于性別偏好這一現象，該問題是否存在文化依據呢？抑或是這只是一個日益浮現的全球趨勢？

在過去的40年中，美國夫婦們喜歡兒子更勝過女兒。

美國男性更喜歡兒子，然而美國女性卻對男女孩持平等態度。

傳統上重男輕女的東亞國家夫婦們卻日漸顯示出對女兒的偏愛。

在過去的十年中，中國男女孩出生比例從12比10降至11比10。

在1999年，75%的日本夫婦便希望自己有一個女兒。

在2011年，66%的韓國夫婦均表示期望能育有女兒。

從全球來看，人們普遍認為女兒能夠向年邁的父母提供生活幫助和支持。在美國，男人們普遍會這樣——

2倍多的可能性——不太可能提供感情上的安慰

3倍多的可能性——出于經濟需要與父母居住在一起

2倍多的可能性——從父母那里獲得經濟支持

在世界上性別差異最大的中國，女性向父母提供的經濟支持比男性更多。

由于受到風俗的影響，中國女性與父母生活在一起的比例遠高于男性。這也就意味著她們能向父母提供更多的經濟支持。