What Do Singaporeans Fear The Most? (No, Not Cockroaches!)

Did you know that most denizens of our “sunny island set in the sea” are afraid of drowning? According to a recent survey by YouGov, 53% of Singaporeans have aquaphobia, putting fear of drowning at the top of the list.

This is followed by pyrophobia (fear of fire) clocking in at 48%, herpetophobia (fear of reptiles) at 47% and katsaridaphobia (fear of cockroaches) in 4th place at 42%. (Never mind that you can usually avoid drowning by staying away from water, whereas cockroaches are immortal monsters with no concept of mercy.)

Of course, our worst fears change as we age, and this is also reflected by the phobias of different age groups. For example, while 42% of Singaporeans aged 18 to 24 fear spiders, only 25% of Singaporeans aged 55 and above have arachnophobia. Perhaps it’s because older Singaporeans grew up around spiders and even played with them, while younger Singaporeans simply see them as a nuisance.

On the other hand, 51% of older Singaporeans are afraid of germs, while only 22% of younger Singaporeans admit to having germaphobia. After all, young people always think they’re invincible, right?

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Oddly enough, some fears rank far lower than you might expect. Despite the typical FOMO attitude Singaporeans have towards dating and being single, fear of loneliness (autophobia, if you want to sound cheem) only affects 21% of the population. That’s even lower than trypophobia (fear of clustered holes), which is shared by 25% of Singaporeans. Though, that might be because it’s a “popular” fear, especially on Instagram where you can scare strangers just by posting pics with plenty of small holes.

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