LA PAZ, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- At least 14 million people in Latin America have returned to poverty due to the effects of the global economic crisis, an official with the World Bank was quoted Sunday by local press as saying.

Carlos Felipe Jaramillo, World Bank country director for Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, said his institution was concerned with the poverty issue, according to the La Razon newspaper.

Latin America has a combined population of 569 million. The World Bank estimates that nearly 25 percent of the region's population live on less than two U.S. dollars a day.

The World Bank official added that the reduction of poverty in Latin America, a trend for eight consecutive years, stopped in 2009 due to the worldwide crisis.

Poverty rate in 2009 went back to the 2007 level because of the inability to generate new employment, Jaramillo said.

The World Bank country director said that South America, however, was less affected by unemployment than Central America and the Caribbean islands.

Jaramillo attributed the less poverty in South America to direct state aid to poor families, like the social programs in Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Peru.

Renewed economic development is needed for Latin America as a whole to return to its poverty-reduction track, according to Jaramillo who added that diversification of economy in the region would facilitate generating employment.