MOSCOW, March 27 (Xinhuanet) -- More than half of Russians feel they are free while most Russians say freedom matters much to them, an opinion poll released Sunday showed.

    The poll, conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation in 100 areas in 44 Russian regions, finds 54 percent of the respondents consider they are free while 39 percent of those say they do not feel so, the Interfax news agency reported.

    Ninety-one percent of the 1,500 respondents say freedom mattersmuch to them, the Public Opinion Foundation report said.

    Among the rights they enjoy in their daily life, 49 percent of them attached prime importance to health care and 43 percent of them give priority to protected private life. Still others cite the rights to housing, protection from unemployment, payment for fulfilling work and education as their priorities.

    The poll also finds that several factors, such as education andage, weighs considerably in the respondents' feeling about freedom.The higher educational level, the less free a respondent feels; young and elderly people feel freer than "socially-productive" middle-age people.

    People feel freer when they have more social resources and opportunities to be involved in society, the Public Opinion Foundation concluded in its report. Enditem