Fear of spiders is the biggest phobia among young people, a survey revealed yesterday.

Aversion to spiders - or arachnophobia - topped the list of fears in a study of nearly 2,000 people aged 18-30 by holiday company www.tenerife.co.uk.

Fear of needles (trypanophobia) was second, with fear of clowns (coulrophobia) third and fear of flying (aerophobia) fourth.

Claustrophobia - fear of enclosed spaces - was fifth, with fear of dying (thanatophobia) and fear of heights (acrophobia) also among the top 10.

Tenerife.co.uk managing director Chris Brown said: "You often hear about people who are afraid of flying and we really wanted to look into how this phobia compared to other fears. Phobias are no laughing matter, but it's difficult not to see the funny side when more are scared of clowns than flying."

These were the top 10 fears:

1. Spiders
2. Needles
3. Clowns
4. Flying
5. Confined spaces
6. Dying
7. Germs
8. Heights
9. Strangers
10. Vomit

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