Johannesburg - Xenophobia, the fear of anything strange or foreign, is South Africans biggest fear, new research has revealed.
The study conducted by All About Cats, an expert-reviewed guide on cat products, behaviour, health, and more also found that the nation’s biggest animal phobia is arachnophobia, which is the fear of spiders.
Meanwhile, the country’s most unusual phobia is the fear of rain, also known as ombrophobia.
All About Cats surveyed those in 121 nations across the globe about their biggest phobias, as well as their animal and unusual fears.
The survey found that a whopping 61.67% of country’s biggest fear was agoraphobia, a social phobia commonly understood as the fear of public spaces and crowds.
But this fear is actually a more complex condition that covers an irrational fear of being in a situation or place in which you feel trapped, embarrassed, or helpless, and can even be so severe that sufferers cannot leave their own homes.
Nations that said that this was their biggest fear include the likes of Afghanistan, Botswana, Canada, Kenya, Portugal, The United Arab Emirates (UAE), the US and the UK.
Meanwhile, South Africa was joined by the likes of Bolivia, Cameroon, Chile, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and The Bahamas, who said that their biggest phobia was xenophobia.
In fact, the All About Cats research revealed that 19.17% of surveyed countries said the fear of anything strange or foreign was their biggest fear, and this ranked as the second most common phobia in the world.
Claustrophobia, the fear of confined spaces or of being confined, was the third most common phobia in the world and countries which listed this included Vietnam, Cambodia, Ghana, Nepal, Pakistan and Uganda.
All About Cats said that those who suffer from claustrophobia can experience anything from mild to severe anxiety when in a confined space and that the most common experience is a feeling or fear of losing control. Claustrophobia sufferers will often avoid confined spaces such as lifts, tunnels, tube trains, and public toilets.
Meanwhile, a whopping 78.33% of surveyed countries said that their biggest animal fear was spiders, with some academic research suggesting that arachnophobia is hard-wired into an individual’s psyche as a survival technique because venomous spiders have been a danger to our ancestors for millions of years.
Nations that said this was their biggest animal fear include the UK, US, Sweden, Korea and Australia.
Zoophobia, an irrational fear of all animals in general, was the second most feared animal phobia, with cynophobia, an irrational fear of dogs coming in as the third most listed animal phobia.
In addition, 38.33% of all surveyed countries said that Megalophobia, the fear of large things such as buildings, statues, and vehicles, was their biggest unusual phobia. The fear of rain ranked second, and Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliopho- bia, the irrational fear of long words, was third.