Many of the economic gains achieved in recent years in Latin America have evaporated due to the global financial crisis, as nine million more people in the region sink into poverty this year, a UN body announced Thursday.

The number of poor in the region, including the Caribbean, rose for the first time in six years, increasing in 2009 by 1.1 percent over the previous year, from 180 million to 189 million people, or just over 34 percent of the population, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said.

And the number of truly destitute in the region will reach 76 million, up from 71 million last year, according to ECLAC.

The latest figures "depart from the trend towards poverty reduction until now prevalent in the region," ECLAC reported.

"The nine million poor and indigent represent almost a fourth of the population that had already overcome poverty between 2002 and 2008 due to greater economic growth, the expansion of social spending... and better income distribution."

The financial crisis which swept the world beginning last year is blamed for a 1.9-percent drop in gross domestic product across Latin America.

Yet ECLAC forecasts that the crisis will not have as crushing an impact on regional poverty as those of years past, including the 1998-2000 Asian crisis, in part because the region has been able to keep inflation in check and salary purchasing power stable.

"However, the rise in poverty calls us to action," said ECLAC chief Alicia Barcena who presented the study.

"We need to rethink social protection programs with a long-term, strategic perspective and measures that make the most of human capital and protect the income of vulnerable families and groups," she said.

The Santiago-based ECLAC is a regional United Nations commission tasked with contributing to regional economic development.

Latin America saw steep plunges in economic growth for several quarters in 2009, led by Mexico which posted a stunning 7.3 percent decline for 2009, according to the International Monetary Fund.

In October, the IMF said the 2009 decline in the region would be deeper than initially expected at 2.5 percent, compared with the April forecast for a 1.6 percent decline, but said the economies would expand in 2010 at an average pace of 2.9 percent.