Data collected before the global financial crisis in 2007 showed that 20 to 30% of the population in most Pacific island countries live under the poverty line, and this number will increase if nothing is done now.

UNICEF Chief of Policy, Advocacy Planning and Evaluation Dr Will Parks said this is an alarming figure and that is the reason for having the Pacific Conference on "The Human Face of the Global Economic Crisis" to be held in Vanuatu next month to address how to tackle the global financial crisis.

Dr Parks said if nothing is done now, another 50,000 people in the Pacific will be affected.