SANTIAGO, Chile - The number of people living in poverty in Latin America and Caribbean will reach 71 million in 2009, an increase of 3 million over last year, according to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization.
FAO representative Jose Graziano da Silva says the international financial crisis accounts for the rise.
The report released Wednesday estimates that 53 million people will be undernourished. The FAO analysis said the economic crisis combined with rising food prices have eroded nearly two decades of progress in combating hunger in the region.
Most affected are populations of African descent, about 150 million people mainly in Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela, and 40 to 50 million indigenous people, many concentrated in Bolivia.