MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th June, 2023) One in three Russians say they have acrophobia, which is an intense fear of heights, according to a survey published on Wednesday by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM).
The pollster asked 1,600 adults on June 17 to identify what they feared the most from a list of 14 most common phobias, which are exaggerated and usually illogical fears of objects or situations.
Thirty percent of those sampled said they were afraid of heights (acrophobia), followed by 28% who said they feared snakes (ophidiophobia) and 24% who felt anxious when near sources of water (aquaphobia).
The fear of dentists (dentophobia) was named by 18% of respondents. The same number of Russians said they were fearful of insects (entomophobia) and spiders (arachnophobia). Twelve percent each said they held an irrational fear of confined spaces (claustrophobia) and germs (germaphobia), 11% feared speaking in public (glossophobia), and 10% feared flying (aerophobia).
Nine percent said they feared crowds of people (demophobia) or thunderstorms (brontophobia), while 8% feared the sight of blood (hemophobia). Five percent said they were fearful of the dark (nyctophobia), 3% of clowns (coulrophobia), and 2% of death (thanatophobia).
The uncommon fears of mice, dolls, God, dogs, war, fire, other people, poverty and hunger, loneliness, speed, birds, and natural disasters, made up less than 2% of the answers given in the poll, which was commissioned by Sputnik and RT.
