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Phobia facts and statistics 2024

An estimated 19 million Americans have at least one phobia. These phobia statistics illustrate the effect of phobias on people’s mental and physical health.
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By | Updated on Oct. 25, 2024 Medically reviewed by Josephine Bawab, Pharm.D.
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Spiders, heights, and being stuck in enclosed spaces can get many people’s hearts racing. Being near creepy crawlies or in an overcrowded room can make even the calmest and most collected people uncomfortable. You may not think you have any worries, and then you suddenly have a slight fear of flying before boarding a plane. These feelings are totally normal, but when these situations start controlling someone’s life, it becomes more serious.

What is a phobia?

We all experience fear. It’s a normal emotion that keeps us safe from dangerous situations. However, a phobia isn’t just being startled and then going on with your day. It’s something bigger, a much more extreme fear.

“Phobia is a type of anxiety disorder that causes overwhelming and irrational fear toward an object, place, or situation,” explained Sam Nabil, CEO and lead therapist of Naya Clinics. “Phobia is always connected to something specific. Its effect can be severely disabling in that it can disrupt an individual’s life and relationships.”

When presented with their phobia or put in a “phobic” situation, those who suffer from this anxiety disorder may experience an increase in heart rate, sweating or shaking, panic attacks, or even more extreme physical responses.

Technically, a person could have a phobia of anything, so it’s impossible to list out all of the phobias that exist. There are three main types of phobia listed in the DSM-5: social phobias, agoraphobia, and specific phobias.

RELATED: Anxiety statistics

List of phobias
Category Phobia Fear of
Social phobias Speaking-only social phobia Public speaking
Complex social phobia Variety of social situations and interactions
Agoraphobia Paranoid agoraphobia Leaving the house in addition to paranoia
Claustrophobia Small spaces
Disorganized agoraphobia Encounters while out and about, causing instability
Catatonic agoraphobia Triggering things specific to an individual, causing an inability to move or speak
Enochlophobia Large crowds
Specific Phobias Emetophobia Vomiting 
Trypanophobia  Needles
Arachnophobia Spiders
Aerophobia Airplanes
Acrophobia Heights

How common are phobias?

  • The most common anxiety disorder and third most common mental disorder in the general population is specific phobias. (Archives of General Psychiatry, 2005)
  • Over their lifetime, up to 12.5% of the population will experience a specific phobia. (Archives of General Psychiatry, 2005)
  • It’s estimated that 19 million Americans have at least one phobia, ranging from mild to severe. (John Hopkins Medicine)
  • Within the last year, it’s estimated 9.1% of adults in the United States experienced some degree of a specific phobia. Of those experiencing phobias, it was more prevalent in females, with 12.2% having them compared to males at 5.8%. (National Institute of Mental Health)

Phobia statistics worldwide

  • About 10 million individuals have at least one phobia in the United Kingdom. (National Health Service Inform, 2022)
  • In a survey of 22 countries, 7.4% of respondents reported that they experienced specific phobias within their lifetime, and 5.5% of respondents had a specific phobia within the last 12 months. (Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2020)
  • Specific phobias were found to be higher in females when compared to males and higher in higher-income countries when compared to lower-income countries. (Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2020)
  • The countries with the lowest lifetime prevalence of social phobias were China (2.6%), Poland and Japan (3.4%), and Brazil (12.5%). (Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2020)

National phobia statistics

  • Among adults in the U.S. experiencing a specific phobia within the last year, 48.1% had a mild impairment, 30% had a moderate impairment, and 21.9% had a serious impairment. ()
  • Looking at Google Trends by state between August of 2018 and 2019, trypophobia, the fear of holes, was the most commonly searched word across all states. The fear of clowns, or coulrophobia, was the most commonly searched fear in Utah, Iowa, and West Virginia. (Security Center, 2018)

Phobia statistics by type

  • Within their lifetime, 12.5% of U.S. adults experience a specific phobia, 12.1% experience a social phobia, and 1.3% experience agoraphobia without panic. (Harvard National Comorbidity Survey, 2005)
  • The most common specific phobias are zoophobia (fear of animals), acrophobia (fear of heights), and astraphobia or brontophobia (fear of thunderstorms). (, 2022)
  • A German study of more than 2,000 people found that 6.4% of respondents had acrophobia. It was lower in men (4.1%) than in women (8.6%). (Journal of Neurology, 2019)
  • Up to 6% of people will experience zoophobia. (The Lancet Psychiatry, 2018)
  • In one study, spiders evoked the strongest response from participants (19% reported extreme fear), and snakes evoked the second strongest response (10% reported extreme fear). The fear of spiders is called arachnophobia, and the fear of snakes is called ophidiophobia. (British Journal of Psychology, 2019)
  • Additionally, 1 in 3 people with zoophobia has a fear of dogs ( cynophobia). (Cleveland Clinic, 2021)
  • About 3% to 6% of people have acrophobia (fear of heights). (Cleveland Clinic)
  • More than 2% of the population experience astraphobia (fear of thunder and lightning). (Nationwide, 2019)

Phobia statistics by age

  • The number of adolescents experiencing a specific phobia is estimated to be around 19.3%, with 0.6% of those surveyed saying that they have a severe impairment. (National Institute of Mental Health)
  • A study of adolescents across seven countries found that 36% of respondents met the criteria of social anxiety disorder, also known as social phobia. (PLOS One, 2020)
  • A 2011 study showed that 19.7% of children and adolescents experienced some kind of phobia. The most common phobia was social phobia, with 12.7% of participants experiencing it. The second most common phobia was agoraphobia, with 8.6% of participants experiencing it. (European Psychiatry, 2011)

Phobias and overall health

  • One survey found that 20% of adults with generalized social phobia had clinical impairments in their overall quality of life. (Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2011)
  • An older study looked at phobias and overall mental health. It found an estimated 50% of people with social phobia also had an additional anxiety disorder. Around 20% of participants also met the criteria for major depressive disorder at some point in their lifetime. (European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 1995)
  • Nearly 35% of a study of 1,001 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) also had a social phobia. (Journal of Affective Disorders, 2012)
  • A fear of needles ( trypanophobia) causes up to 16% of adults to avoid getting vaccines. (Cleveland Clinic, 2022)
  • About 3% of adults may avoid going to the dentist due to dentophobia, which is more common in females than males. (Cleveland Clinic, 2022)

The cost of phobias

  • The yearly cost in the Netherlands for social phobia was € 11,952 (or $12,680), which was significantly higher than the costs for people without mental illness. (Journal of Affective Disorders, 2009)
  • Specific phobia treatment at Hartford Healthcare using accelerated cognitive behavioral therapy generally costs $525 per session or $2,500 per week with a licensed psychologist. (Hartford Healthcare)
  • One study in 2013 found that the estimated cost of anxiety disorders in the United States, including phobias, was $48.72 billion. (University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 2013) 

Causes of phobias

The causes of phobias can be different for everyone. Research has found that both genetic and environmental factors can play a part in developing a phobia. If a person has a family member that deals with an anxiety disorder or panic disorder, they can be at higher risk for developing one themselves. Environmental factors can include negative experiences and trauma around the phobia. 

Phobia treatment

“In the past, the standard treatment was systematic desensitization,” said Nabil. “In this treatment, a patient learns relaxation techniques that will counter-condition their response to the aversive stimulus, then, in a hierarchical way, the patient will have increased degrees of exposure to their fear.”

Say someone had a fear of spiders. During their exposure therapy, they might begin looking at pictures of spiders and eventually work to be around a real spider.

However, in more recent years, therapists have been leaning toward cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). In this treatment, the therapist teaches the patient how to manage their feelings and responses toward the phobia. Therapists may also choose to do a combination of desensitization, exposure therapy, and CBT. 

Medications, such as SNRI and SSRI antidepressants, may be prescribed to treat the anxiety associated with phobias. Antidepressants should be used in combination with psychotherapy for optimal treatment.

Phobia questions and answers

What phobia is most common?

The most common phobia is specific phobias. Around 7.7% to 12.5% of the population will experience a specific phobia in their lifetime. 

What is the rarest phobia?

The least reported phobia was agoraphobia without panic in the 2005 Harvard National Comorbidity Survey.

What percent of the population has a phobia?

According to John Hopkins Medical, at least 19 million Americans have at least one phobia. Out of the 331 million people in America, about 5.7% of the population has a phobia.

How many phobias are there?

There are three main categories of phobia: social phobia, agoraphobia, and specific phobias. Since people can have a phobia of potentially anything, which would be a specific phobia, there is no way to say exactly how many phobias there are.

Phobia research