VIENNA (AFP) - Poverty has never been as glaring worldwide as it is today, the head of the United Nations organization in charge of industrial development said ahead of the agency's annual conference Monday which is set to focus on that issue.

Carlos Nagarinos, director of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), told reporters that recent figures show that the number of people subsisting on less than one dollar a day in the 39 least developed countries had jumped from 125 million in 1970 to 280 million now.

At the same time, these countries' share in worldwide exports has decreased from 4.7 percent to less than one percent, while their share in global investments stands at merely 0.5 percent, he said.

"This marginalization of less developed countries is unacceptable," Nagarinos said, adding that in African countries, the number of "very poor" people had jumped from 55.8 percent to 64.9 percent of the population.

"In order to help developing countries to become less dependant, it is vital we back companies in their bid to negotiate and build on industrial projects," Nagarinos said.

UNIDO's 10th annual conference opens today in Vienna and runs through Friday.

Several heads of state and government, as well as industry and trade ministers, are due to attend the conference.

The star speaker at the conference is to be Jeffrey Sachs, considered one of the world's foremost economists and the director of the Earth Institute.

He is also special advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on a group of poverty alleviation initiatives called the Millennium Development Goals.

"UNIDO's conference will focus on a new development agenda based on productivity enhancement in areas including trade... , post-conflict reconstruction, and poverty eradication," said Nagarinos. Yukio Takasu, Japan's permanent representative to UNIDO, said the agency was "indispensable as a global forum."

UNIDO has 117 member states and is represented in 35 countries where it has committed some $49 million (41 million euros) for development projects in the last two years.