SANTIAGO, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Latin Americans think health, education, pension services and public utilities should be government-run in their countries, many of which have shifted to the left in recent years, a new poll showed on Friday.

According to the annual Latinobarometro survey, more than 80 percent of those living in continental Latin America and the Dominican Republic -- a region of 400 million people -- believe the government should control and oversee public services such as pensions, health and education, the annual survey showed.

"There is rampant statism in Latin America," Marta Lagos, executive director of Latinobarometro, said of the survey that interviewed 20,217 people in 18 countries from Sept. 1 to Oct. 11 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

"The surprising thing about the results is that citizens prefer greater state control in these areas, despite the fact that they've been privately held for decades," the poll said.

Public utilities and social services like health care and pensions have been turned over to the private sector in some Latin American countries in recent decades.

But in the past 10 years, there has been a shift to the political left in much of the region.

In Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, some 90 percent believe that pensions should be in the hands of the state. All currently have private pension systems. Seventy-eight percent of respondents in Chile also believe the telecoms system, privatized 20 years ago, should be in state hands.

The report said Argentine President Cristina Fernandez was aware of broad popular support for more state control when she made her recent move to nationalize private pension funds. (Reporting by Monica Vargas; Writing by Pav Jordan; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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