The poverty-fighting institution said there were 1.4 billion people ? a quarter of the developing world ? living in extreme poverty on less than $1.25 a day in 2005.

Despite raising the yardstick to measure global poverty, the World Bank found more people than expected lived under extreme poverty.

The World Bank and its partners need to do a far better job of considering the environmental effects of projects they finance in poor countries, its internal review group said.

Some countries in the region import 90 percent or more of their staples. The worldwide food crisis is making many countries in the region rethink that math.

Poor countries will need some $6 billion in food aid annually, given that food and energy prices are expected to remain high, the president of the World Bank, said.

The president of the World Bank is calling on leaders meeting in the Group of 8 economic summit next week to make new aid commitments to a dozens of countries.

U.N. secretary general Ban Ki-moon called on countries to act with ?a sense of purpose and mission? to address global hunger. Instead, leaders spoke of their unique economic challenges.

Food experts and representatives from poor countries wondered whether the divided forces at the conference could devise any solution to the global hunger problem.

Leaders from around the world spoke about economic issues in their own countries and political priorities at a U.N. conference on food shortages.

Officials called the $1.5 billion donation a significant boost to their efforts to address the global food crisis, but acknowledged that much more money is required.